Psychogeriatrics and Psychogeriatric Services in Nigeria

Abstract

Psychogeriatrics services began in Nigeria in the 1960's with the work of Adeoye Lambo. Today, some limited progress has been made in services and a little more in research. A number of geriatric psychiatric clinics are available in some tertiary hospitals in the country, but there are significant unmet needs in clinical care. For example no hospital in Nigeria has admission unit designated to geriatric psychiatry, older adults with mental health problems are admitted to general adult psychiatric wards. It would appear that most important clinical condition in hospitals is dementia. Research has benefited tremendously from the collaborative study between the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and the Indiana University School of Medicine which lasted over 20 years. There has also been contribution from other groups. Future goals should be tailored to clinical outcome research and other intervention studies.

Keywords: Psychogeriatrics, Services, Development, History, Nigeria.