The Women, Media and Change (WOMEC) joins the global community to commemorate World Mental Health Day, observed annually on 10th October to raise awareness and advocate for mental wellness as a human right. This year’s theme, “Access to Services – Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies,” is especially relevant in Ghana and across Africa, where emergencies, from economic hardship and floods to road accidents, epidemics, conflicts, and gender-based violence, continue to threaten mental well-being.
In times of crisis, mental health needs escalate. Unfortunately, it is in such situations that access to services become even more limited. Women, who are already disproportionately affected by social and economic inequalities, face even deeper emotional trauma during emergencies. Whether they are survivors of domestic violence during disasters, caregivers during disease outbreaks, frontline health workers, or mothers struggling through loss and displacement, women often bear the greatest psychological burden with the least support.
Women are the emotional pillars of homes and the backbone of community life, yet they face enormous physical, economic, and psychological stress without adequate support. Studies show that women are at a higher risk of anxiety, depression, and trauma, but very few receive professional help due to stigma, discrimination, and limited access to mental health services, especially in rural communities. Many women lack, safe spaces to seek help, community-based mental health services, trauma counselling, financial ability to access private care and protection from stigma and cultural silence.
WOMEC believes that access to mental health care especially for women and girls must be treated as a basic human right, not a luxury. Every emergency response, every community recovery plan, and every policy on peace and security must include mental health support as a core component.
We call on government and development partners to:
• Strengthen CHPS compounds with mental health support, especially for women and girls.
• Offer free trauma and psychosocial counselling for survivors of gender-based violence.
• Support maternal mental health by including mental health screening in antenatal and postnatal care.
• The NHIS should be fully expanded to cover all mental health services and medications.
Civil society also has a role to play. Traditional and faith leaders must support, not shame women seeking mental help, employers must prioritise mental wellness in the workplace. Men and families must provide emotional support and end harmful stereotypes that silence women. The media must also report responsibly to raise awareness and fight stigma.
No woman should have to suffer in silence. Mental wellness is not a privilege. It is a right. When women are mentally strong, families are stable, children succeed, communities thrive, and Ghana develops. Let us act now to ensure every woman, every family, and every community has access to mental health support, especially in times of crisis. When women heal, nations recover. When women thrive, Ghana rises.
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Signed: Executive Director, WOMEC
Email: womec123@gmail.com
Phone: +233 (0) 55 795 2735
Website: www.womec.org
