‘Mental health problem on the increase’

MINISTRY of Health Director Clinical Care and Diagnostic Services Lisulo Walubita is worried that the prevalence of mental health problems among adolescent and young adults in Zambia is on the increase.

Mr. Walubita explained that unaddressed mental health problems, especially among adolescents and young adults, impacted their pursuit for education and their ability to keep a job thereby depriving society of their talents, creativity, and ambitions if they were to be fulfilled.

He said for individuals with untreated mental health problem, they remained at risk of developing more severe and long-term health conditions, turning to substance abuse as a way of coping with their problems and finally attempting self-harm and suicide

“Among the notable cases of mental health problems include alcohol and substance abuse, depression, anxiety and stress disorder, HIV and AIDS, exposure to violence and abuse, grief, poverty and anxiety about the future are a few of the contributors to psychological distress,” Dr. Walubita said.

He said the ever-increasing mental health needs of the youth placed a high demand on the health sector to provide psychological and mental health care initiatives to the youths and other individuals in need of mental services.

Dr. Walubita said the Ministry was aware of the detrimental impact of untreated mental health problems.

He said it was evidently clear that most interpersonal relationships challenges stemmed from undeveloped communication skills and unhealthy coping mechanisms for dealing with disagreements that were inevitable in all human interactions.

Dr. Walubita said under the Ministry of Health, HIV and AIDS counselling services were provided through different healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics, community health centres and outreach programmes.

“Furthermore, one stop Gender Based Violence (GBV) have been established in various healthcare facilities to provide support to victims of GBV,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Health had revamped the mental health unit across the country for fostering integration and decentralization of mental health services,” he said.