Local suffering and the global discourse of mental health and human rights: An ethnographic study of responses to mental illness in rural Ghana

Ursula M Read, Edward Adiibokah, Solomon Nyame

The Global Movement for Mental Health has brought renewed attention to the neglect of people with mental illness within health policy worldwide. The maltreatment of the mentally ill in many low-income countries is widely reported within psychiatric hospitals, informal healing centres, and family homes. International agencies have called for the development of legislation and policy to address these abuses. However such initiatives exemplify a top-down approach to promoting human rights which historically has had limited impact at the level of those living with mental illness and their families.