Mental health awareness in Africa is important for various reasons, though the ignorance of the importance of mental health has led to the long history of neglect of mental health in Africa’s health and development policy agenda.
Prioritizing mental health comes with other health care benefits. And, there are various reasons why mental health should no longer be neglected in Africa. Through mental health awareness, most of the mental health problems we face in Africa can be tackled.
Before we discuss why mental health awareness in Africa is important, we need to first understand what mental health and mental health awareness are.
What is Mental Health?
Mental health is a state of psychological and emotional well-being that affects the way we think, feel and act. The state of our mental well-being influences the way we interact with the world. It allows us to cope with life situations, learn, form relationships, make decisions and so on. Mental health is very crucial to personal development and the development of our community.
Mental health is sometimes confused to be mental illness. While mental health is the foundation of emotion, thinking and behaviour. Mental illness involves changes in these emotions, behaviour or thinking.
Mental health in a simple term is the absence of an illness or disorder. So, a person with poor mental health may not necessarily be mentally ill. But it is important to know that mental health and mental illness go hand-in-hand.
What is Mental Health Awareness?
Mental health awareness is an effort to inform and educate people about mental health conditions and mental illness. To decrease the stigma and misconceptions surrounding these topics.
Mental health awareness creates an opportunity for people that struggle with mental health conditions to understand their symptoms and get help or treatment. It also helps in improving the healthcare system and creates easy access for people to get better.
How Does Africa View Mental Health?
There are many myths and misconceptions about mental health and mental illness in Africa. It is often considered a taboo topic. The issues of mental health conditions are often associated with spiritual matters in Africa. And, sufferers of mental illnesses are stigmatized and discriminated against because of their condition. Largely because it is believed to have been caused by a spiritual factor, either being bewitched by an evil spirit or a curse placed on someone as a form of punishment.
It is impossible to deny the fact that many events that occur in a typical African society are influenced by spiritual and other mystical factors. And, it is no surprise that mental health matters are not exempted from that.
Another common problem with mental health in Africa is, that individuals who suffer from mental illnesses are always referred to as “mad” irrespective of the kind of mental illness they may suffer from. This is a term used to dehumanize the mentally ill.
A lot of factors cause and contribute to mental health problems in Africa, and the population of people suffering from various mental health conditions is on the rise. Mental health awareness in Africa should not be underestimated or ignored, to tackle this problem.
Talking about how mental health is viewed in Africa or what Africans think about mental health is a topic that goes on and on. But, it is widely viewed from a negative perspective.
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Why Mental Health Awareness in Africa is Important
Our mental and physical health are equally important for our overall well-being. And, our mental state can affect our physical condition, so our mental health must be taken care of.
Although mental health awareness is a universal topic. Unlike western countries and other parts of the world, Africa is still at the beginner’s level in dealing with mental health issues.
There are many reasons why mental health awareness in Africa is important, but we would only discuss three reasons.
Mental Health Is as Important as Physical Health
Mental health should have the same importance as physical health. In Africa, there are a lot of organizations, facilities, healthcare centers and services set up to tackle illnesses and diseases that affect the physical body, like diabetes for instance. As much as there is a need for physical body care, there is also a need for mental care.
Many mental health conditions can be effectively treated at a low cost, yet investments in the treatment of mental health problems remain relatively low. Through mental health awareness, the need for the establishment of facilities to carry out research for effective mental health treatment and the provision of easy access to quality and affordable care can be achieved.
The condition of a person’s mental health state could affect the person’s physical health state. Both the physical and mental are important, and both need adequate attention.
The Increase of Mental Health Problems in Africa
As Africa’s population grows, mental health problems appear to also be increasing in Africa. There is an immediate need for mental health awareness, to help tackle some problems like the lack of adequate mental health care support and limited access to treatment of mental illnesses. It’s so disheartening to know that there are millions of people who suffer from one form of mental health condition or the other, yet, there are only a handful of mental health facilities and qualified personnel. Nigeria for instance has a population of 201 million, but there are only about 150 psychiatrists in the country. Other African countries suffer the same fate or worse.
Mental health awareness in Africa can educate people on the need for creating more opportunities in tally with the increasing population. And for people with mental health problems to have access to facilities and services that can help them get better.
Decrease Stigma and Misconception, Educate and Inform
Education and information are important ways to decrease the stigma and misconceptions associated with mental health and mental illness. It is necessary to recognize the importance of mental health care in our daily lives.
Through mental health awareness, healthcare givers, families and individuals can be educated on mental health topics, conditions, treatment, self-care and other ways to help themselves and others with mental health problems. This will not only decrease the stigma around mental health issues in Africa, and improve the healthcare system. But also, serve as a means to the social and economic development of the continent.
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Conclusion
Mental health has been shunned for too long and neglecting it will make it more difficult to attain many significant social and developmental goals in Africa. We should prioritize mental health and make it part of our daily lives.
No part of the health care sector should be ignored, emphatically, not mental health.
What other reasons do you know, why mental health awareness in Africa is important? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
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If you need help or know someone who needs help with their mental health or mental illness, check out the resource page for mental health resources.
