News and Events

The Executive Secretary of Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation Ms. Jill Iliffe and the Coordinator for the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy in India Mr. Soumitra Pathare recently paid a courtesy call to the Minister of Health and Wellness Honourable Dr. Alfred Madigele.

The duo is visiting Botswana to assist with the Mental Health Legislation Reform Project as Botswana is currently working on reviewing the Mental Health Bill.

Lead investigator Dr Soumitra Pathare said some of the key findings as per the Commonwealth assessment of the existing Mental Health Legislation among its member states are that many mental health laws in Commonwealth countries do not address the issue of (lack of) access to mental health care and that they do not comply with the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He added that substantive and procedural provisions related to guardianship in mental health laws are particularly problematic in this regard.

It is for this reason that Botswana became one of the two countries that found support from the Commonwealth Foundation through the Federation of Nurses and Midwives in reforming their Mental Health legislation. The projects commenced in 2015 and Botswana is at the final stages of drafting the Bill. Read more...