CNN visited rural Kenya -- a country where less than one percent of the health budget is allotted to mental health -- to investigate the extent of the problems.
Edah Maina, who runs the Kenya Society for the Mentally Handicapped, says the mentally disabled in Kenya have few options for long-term care and support.
"The entire family is affected and especially when the mother sort of loses hope and resorts to locking up the child because they have to go out and earn a living or they have to chain them up because they might hurt themselves," said Maina.
Social workers in Kenya searching for those in desperate need found a mother and child on the floor of a squalid kitchen hut.
John is 17 and severely handicapped. He cannot speak and cannot properly hold his head up. He has been living like this his whole life. When CNN met with him, he and his mother were lying on a thin, filthy blanket.
His mother, Jane, is mildly mentally disabled. She does what she can for her son, but John spends so much time on his side that he suffers from severe bedsores.
They depend on help from their impoverished family and they haven't eaten for days.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/Africa/06 ... index.html
Why is mental health taken so lightly in Africa? It got me curious about Somalia and how mental health was dealt with. Even the youth are not interested in exploring Mental health as an area of study.
I have seen few people(Somali) here in the west with such illness and they are without any support or proper care. Even if they receive disability, they are vulnerable enough to be taken advantage of 
