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WHO, mental health problems in Africa
Prior to events marking the annual celebration of the Day, the WHO launched, on October 6, 2022, in Brazzaville (Congo), a campaign to raise awareness and encourage prevention of suicides in Africa.
This year’s WHD was observed on the theme: “Make Mental Health and Well-being for All – A Global Priority”.
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According to the WHO, the African region has the highest rate of suicides in the world.
It pointed out that six of the countries with the greatest suicide rates in the world occurred in Africa.
“Africa’s pre-suicide rate is more than a fifth higher than that of other regions of the world,” the WHO stated last week.
“Around 11 people per 100,000 per year die by suicide in the African region, higher than the global average of nine per 100,000 people,” the WHO stated.
Death by hanging or poisoning by pesticide has been cited by the organisation as the most means the suicides used to kill themselves.
Other less applied methods include use of firearms, jumping from heights or medication overdose.
The WHO regarded suicide as a major health problem and it remarked that every death by suicide was a tragedy.
“Unfortunately, suicide prevention is rarely a priority in national health programmes,” the WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, has observed.
The organisation recognised stigma as a key problem, as well as the lack of funds.
It said, “Africa had an average of only one psychiatrist to 500,000 inhabitants.”
That is equal to a ratio of 100 times lower than the WHO’s recommendation.
The WHO is concerned about the lack of adequate number of therapists on the continent, which it said was serious in countries that had been in conflict.
“Spending on mental health in Africa is under 50 cent per head; less than a quarter of United Nations (UN) recommendations,” according to WHO.
It has observed that there was insufficient action to address and prevent the risk factors, including mental health conditions which currently affected 116 million people, an increase from 53 million in 1990.
“The launch of the pre-World Health Day programme was aimed at reaching 10 million people across the African continent to raise public awareness and then galvanise the support of governments and policymakers to increase focus and funding for mental health programmes, including suicide prevention,” a release posted by the WHO online has stated.
According to the WHO, mental health problems accounted for 11 per cent of the risk factors associated with suicide.
“Although mental health problems in Africa were highest in the world, the problems remained highly unrecognised and often stigmatised,” the WHO stated with concern.
I am not surprised that the highest rate of suicides occurred on the African continent over the years.
The WHO has provided the numbers of suicide cases, and the rise of mental problems in Africa.
The organisation has been engaged with prevention of suicide and treatment of mental health patients.
As a health organisation, it is proper that its attention is focused on those areas of mental health.
However, the superficial and root causes of mental health problems that can result in suicides must also been given proper attention by the WHO and national governments in Africa.
In 2019, Lesotho had the highest suicide rate of 72.4 per 100,000 inhabitants; Eswatini, 29.4; South
Africa, 23.5; Botswana, 16.1; Zimbabwe, 14.1; Central African Republic, 12.3. Ghana was among ten countries with single-digit rates with 6.6 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Why have suicides been on the increase in Africa more than elsewhere?
Why are other poor continents such as central and south-America, and parts of south-east Asia, not so affected?
The answers rest on the history of African governments’ neglect and disregard for campaigns and promptings by experts on the problems of the Third Industrial Revolution, Information Revolution and the Information Society that is unfolding rapidly upon humanity.
Futurists had projected as far back as the late 1960s the benefits and side effects of super technological development on man and his culture, tradition and well-being.
There were the pessimistic futurists who projected a world that would end up in a big bang caused by overproduction, overconsumption and materialistic concerns.
And there were the optimistic futurists who predicted that mankind would come out of the technological problems by shifting “from materialistic values (toward spiritual or human potential values)”
With that established, “a higher value would be placed on having fewer material acquisitions as the situation would dictate”.
On the rat race or the great scramble for materialistic values, the position of the optimistic futurists is summed up by the following: “Many affluent and well-educated people are ‘bailing out of the rat race today; tomorrow the steady-state economy would have contributed to the elimination of the rat race.’’
The optimistic futurists presented a timetable on how the world would progress from the problems of overproduction and overconsumption that have produced global warming and climate change, and the ubiquitous Future Shock phenomenon – to the steady state economy.
They have reckoned that the world would transit from the post-industrial state to the steady state society from 1976 to 2020 and that the maturity steady state economy and society would be achieved by the year, 2076.
Among the optimistic futurists were Herman Kahn, Gary Gappert, Kenneth Boulding, Waldo Emerson and
Alvin Toffler.
Alvin Toffler connects with Future Shock or Culture Shock, which underlines the problems of mental health; the concern of this article.
Alvin Toffler is the author of the concept, Future Shock. He described Future Shock as a state of distress or disorientation due to rapid social changes.
It is “a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies”. It is a perception of “too much change in too short a period of time.”
The pace of rapid change “overwhelmed people, leaving them disoriented and suffering from shattering stress and disorientation”.
The computer and the mobile phone are mental tools, and their use can lead to a mind-shift which is also a problem. It is necessary, therefore, to alert and guide users on how to navigate safely in the new environments.
It has been made known by Toffler that the majority of social problems were symptoms of Future Shock caused by the information overload and the paradigm shift occasioned by rapid technological changes.
He has, in his writings, made recommendations on how countries could adapt to accommodate the problems posed by the Third Industrial Revolution.
Certainly, many countries have responded by trying to adapt to the problems of rapid technological changes.
Countries that did not deny, disregard or ignore Future Shock, for example, have prepared for the eventualities and are safer than those that have not.
How many African countries have recognised Future Shock, officially, as a problem of national concern?
How many African countries have embodied Future Shock in their health, educational, commercial and industrial programmes?
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