With just a couple of days left before the country goes into the much anticipated March 4th election, politicians have been seen criss - crossing several areas carrying out their campaigns in the last minute kick of vote hunting.

Former Mumias Sugar Company Managing Director Evans Kidero was at Uhuru Junction in Makadara on Tuesday telling the residents why they should consider electing him as their Nairobi Governor.

For a long time, mental health in Uganda has been on the side-lines. It is an area in which little has been done to address the issue. For a population of over 30 million people, only about 25 practicing psychiatrists poses a worrying situation.

Watching the CNN documentary, Locked Up and Forgotten, one cannot help noticing the striking familiarity of the situation in the Ugandan health system’s relationship with mental health. The documentary covered some families struggling to cope with their loved ones living with intellectual and mental disabilities in Kenya. Facing massive stigma from society and receiving little help from the state, they try to make life better for their children.

In both Kenya and Uganda, the government health system does very little to help families with cases of mental illness. There is too little on the ground to show the Ministry of Health’s effort in tackling the problem, that is, in addressing mental health, and bipolar disorder more specifically.