A zoom into South Africa

Time to go to what’s happening on the continent and today we zoom into South Africa. October has been declared mental health awareness month and tomorrow the 10th is World Mental Health Day. According to the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) as many as one in six South Africans suffer from anxiety, depression or substance-use problems and this does not include more serious conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Furthermore SADAG says only twenty-seven percent of South Africans reporting severe mental illness ever receive treatment. This means that nearly three-quarters of these sufferers are not accessing any form of mental health care at all. Let’s cross over to the lines and speak to Bharti Patel who is the National Executive Director at the South African Federation for Mental Health.