SOUTH AFRICA— To address the growing concern of rising mental health problems in young people in South Africa, a petition calling on Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla and Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana to put resources outlined in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policy has been launched.
The petition is sponsored by the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Children’s Institute (CI), the Centre for Public Mental Health and the Centre for Autism Research in Africa.
The three centres are working in partnership with the Institute of Life Course Health Research at Stellenbosch University, and the South African Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions.
The petition urges the government to put the necessary human and financial resources in place to close the treatment gap and ensure that young people can access the mental healthcare services they need.
The partners noted that despite the National Mental Health Policy that affirms the government’s commitment to prioritise the needs of children and adolescents, the country’s child and adolescent mental healthcare services sector is in crisis.
Moreover, recent cuts in healthcare spending pose further threats to service delivery in this vital sector.
Specifically, the petition insists on an increase in the number of facilities which offer child and adolescent mental health services and ensures that these services are private, and confidential that operate at times that work for children and adolescents’ schedules.
The partners also call for the involvement of young people in the design of child- and adolescent-friendly mental health facilities.
As well as develop a set of children and adolescent mental health service standards to facilitate monitoring and evaluation.
Vitally, investment in training, supervision, and support programmes for healthcare workers at primary healthcare levels for them to screen and treat children with common mental health disorders and refer those who require more specialised care is needed.
The petition requests the government to scale up specialised training of child psychiatrists, child psychiatric nurses, psychologists, and social workers.
Finally, establish provincial leadership and ringfenced budgets to drive the implementation of child and adolescent mental health services on the ground.
“We are calling on all those who care about young people’s mental health to sign our petition. We cannot afford to still be asking the same questions in 2043. The time to act is now,” the statement read.
Mental Health and the Youth of South Africa
UCT’S Children Institute reiterates that child and adolescent mental health is the foundation of a strong, vibrant, and caring society.
Disconcertedly, far too many children and adolescents are struggling with mental health challenges and are unable to access the care and support they need.
In 2022, the CI published the South African Child Gauge focussing specifically on children’s mental health.
The report highlighted that South African children are exposed to extraordinarily high levels of adversity, which increases their risk of developing mental health challenges.
A whopping two-thirds of children in South Africa live below the upper-bound poverty line and one in two children have experienced violence, including physical violence and sexual abuse.
In some parts of the country, almost all children have either witnessed or experienced violence in their homes, schools and/or communities.
Undoubtedly, more than one in 10 children in South Africa have a diagnosable and treatable mental health disorder.
This includes depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, conduct, learning and substance-use disorders, as well as neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism.
The report further emphasizes that mental health challenges in young people manifest differently, and they cause distress for both children and their families and interfere with children’s ability to function in everyday life.
Furthermore, all these culminate in higher rates of absenteeism, grade repetition and dropout levels that undermine their future education and economic prospects.
On the flip side of the coin, other children may start to self-medicate or resort to self-harm to cope with their symptoms.
They may also channel their anger and distress outwards through disruptive, harmful, and in some instances, criminal behaviour.
With only 15 child and adolescent psychiatrists are currently working in the public healthcare system.
In most communities, mental health services for young people are simply unavailable, leaving nine in every 10 children with a diagnosable mental health disorder, but unable to access treatment.
In addition, very few healthcare facilities have dedicated centres for children and adolescents with acute mental health illnesses.
As a result, adolescents who require treatment are kept in adult wards where they may be exposed to adult psychiatric patients and assessed by staff who lack the appropriate skills and expertise to treat children and adolescents.
“Policy commitments alone will not be enough to close the treatment gap. They need to be underpinned by dedicated budgets and implementation plans,” the petition urged.
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