Psychiatric experts under the auspices of the Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Programme (MHLAP), on Thursday lamented the inadequate funding of mental health especially for the elder people in the country.

The President, African Association of Psychiatrists and Allied Profession, Professor Oye Gureje and Chairman, Faculty of Psychiatric, National Postgraduate College,Professor Richard Uwakwe, while speaking on the "Health and well-being of the Nigerian elders" as part of this year's World Mental Health Day in Ibadan, said much have not been done for the elders in the area of health.

With the theme: "Mental Health and Older Adults" the experts noted that a number of older persons have at least one chronicle condition and many have multiple conditions such as arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, cataracts or diabetes.

According to them, food insecurity, housing, social class, social support,

socio-economic status and financial stress have been reported to be related to common mental disorders."Changes in life circumstances which can be caused by a number of factors including illness, ageing, being widowed or in poor health and other adverse events such as war, terrorism, kidnapping, disasters may also contribute to the onset or exacerbation of mental disorder," they said.

The psychiatric experts explained that coupled with the numerous social

disadvantages in old age, multiple physical health conditions contribute to both the onset and exacerbation of mental illness.

They argued that the barrier in dealing with mental health conditions in old age was stigma, saying that lack of accurate knowledge of mental health issues breeds stigma which feeds ignorance in a circular form. They said that the country needs to do more for the well-being of its elderly citizens, a section which they claimed was the population that is rapidly growing in size not just in Nigeria but throughout the developing world.