{"id":100290,"date":"2022-10-14T12:51:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T11:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=100290"},"modified":"2022-10-14T12:51:32","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T11:51:32","slug":"over-116m-people-living-with-mental-health-conditions-in-africa-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/over-116m-people-living-with-mental-health-conditions-in-africa-who\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 116m People Living With Mental Health Conditions In Africa \u2013 WHO"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that more than 116 million people are estimated to be living with mental health conditions in Africa.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Dr Matshidiso Moeti WHO Regional Director for Africa said this in Abuja in a message to mark the 2022 World Mental Health Day which has the theme, \u201cMake Mental Health and Wellbeing for All a Global Priority\u201d.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>According to her, the day provides an opportunity to draw attention to Africa\u2019s large and growing burden of mental health conditions, with children and adolescents most impacted.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe theme serves as a reminder that after nearly three years, the social isolation, fear of disease and death, and strained socio-economic circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to an estimated 25 per cent global rise in depression and anxiety.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cAcross the African Region, more than 116 million people were already estimated to be living with mental health conditions pre-pandemic,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Moeti said the rate of suicide remained particularly a thing of concern given the exponential rates of alcohol use and abuse among adolescents as young as 13 years of age.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>She said Africa needed to urgently strengthen regulatory systems to close the gaps that allowed young people to easily access alcohol.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cSure act contributes to heavy episodic drinking rates as high as 80 per cent among teens from 15 to 19,\u2019\u2019 Moeti said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>She added that the situation posed a serious threat to their education, while setting the stage for a lifetime of alcohol abuse, and the associated risks of noncommunicable and other related diseases.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>According to her, inadequate financing for mental health continues to be the biggest limitation, negatively impacting efforts to expand Africa\u2019s mental health workforce.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The WHO director maintained that there are fewer than two mental health workers for every 100 000 people, the majority of whom are psychiatric nurses and mental health nursing aids.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>She said that with scarce resources concentrated at large psychiatric institutions in urban areas, people at the community and primary care levels are left critically underserved.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cFor example, while two-thirds of member states report having guidelines to integrate mental health into primary health care, fewer than 11 per cent are providing pharmacological or psychological interventions at this level.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cIt is, however, heartening that up to 82 per cent of our member states are receiving training on how to manage mental health conditions at primary care level.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cWith up to 74 per cent reporting that specialists are involved in providing appropriate training and supervision to primary health care professionals,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Moeti stated that African governments have made some progress on mental health spending.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>She, however , said the spending pattern was still well below the recommended two dollars per person, with mental health not featuring in national health insurance schemes.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>To address the challenge, she advised, member states should follow ensure the implementation of commitments they made at the Regional Committee in August 2022.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>She said the commitment was done when they endorsed the Framework to Implement the Comprehensive Global Action Plan 2013 to 2023 in the WHO African Region.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The director said that the key document highlighted the severe shortage of mental health services on the continent, and makes recommendations for key actions by member states.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Moeti said countries needed to strengthen the mental health and psychosocial response in humanitarian emergencies, including COVID-19 and Ebola, which have a significant negative impact on school-age children and our health care workers.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>She said that mental health and psychosocial support are integral to any successful response.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cOn this day let us all commit to work together to deepen the value we afford to mental health.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cTo reshape the environments that negatively impact mental health, and to strengthen the care systems to make mental health care accessible to all Africans.\u2019\u2019 Moeti said.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that more than 116 million people are estimated to be living with mental health conditions in Africa. Dr Matshidiso Moeti WHO Regional Director&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Over 116m People Living With Mental Health Conditions In Africa \u2013 WHO - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/over-116m-people-living-with-mental-health-conditions-in-africa-who\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Over 116m People Living With Mental Health Conditions In Africa \u2013 WHO - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that more than 116 million people are estimated to be living with mental health conditions in Africa. 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