Intrigues of Accessing Mental Health Services Among Urban Refugees Living in Kenya: The Case of Somali Refugees Living in Eastleigh, Nairobi

ABSTRACT

This article explores the perceived mental-health-care access barriers affecting the resettled refugee population in Eastleigh, Kenya. Findings suggest that the main barriers to accessing mental health care are cultural and religious beliefs, inadequate health services, culture-insensitive mental health services, poverty, language barriers, stigma, and discrimination. This study recommends that it is important to integrate Somalis' indigenous methods of treatment of mental illnesses into Western methods of treatment in Kenya to provide a wide spectrum of mental help to refugees.

KEYWORDS:

• Somali refugees
• Kenya
• barriers
• access
• mental health care
• primary health care

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all the Somali refugees residing in Eastleigh, Kenya, who participated in the study and to their caregivers, religious leaders, and primary health workers working in Eastleigh for their cooperation and willingness to participate in the study.