Mental Health Awareness Month

The month of July which has been declared Mental Health Awareness Month in South Africa draws to an end this week. The objective of this annual awareness campaign is to not only educate the public about mental health but also to reduce the stigma and discrimination that people with mental illness are often subjected to. One of the mental health problems the month focused on this year is panic disorder, which healthcare professional say is often difficult to diagnose but treatable. In our weekly focus on health issues, our reporter Elizabeth Lediga takes a look at mental health as a growing public health problem.