Violence, alcohol abuse and mental disorders are “inextricably linked and pose a major public health challenge”. Yet there is a lack of recognition of the links between the three, and few properly trained healthworkers to recognise and address patients’ substance abuse.   This is according to Jo-Anne Corrigall from the University of Cape Town’s School of Public Health and Family Medicine and the Medical Research Council’s Richard Matzopoulus writing in the SA Health Review.   South Africa is one of the most violent countries in the world. South Africans are 30 percent more likely to die violently than those in other sub-Saharan countries, according to the World Health Organisation.   Interpersonal violence was the second highest causes of death and disability in 2000. Our homicide rates are eight times the global norm, while the rate of women murdered by their intimate partners is one of the highest in the world.

VHEMBE. – Gloria Mathukha is used to be called ‘crazy’ or ‘mad woman’, but this doesn’t make it any easier. This 36-year-old woman from Matavhela village in Limpopo has a mentally disability and suffers constant discrimination from members in her community. “I feel very sad and disturbed in my soul and my heart because everywhere I go in the community people call me a ‘crazy woman’. I don’t like to be called that. It makes me feel very different from other people, like I’m abnormal, and that breaks my heart,” said Gloria. Gloria’s older sister, Mercy Mathukha said: “I don’t think people are doing right by my sister because she feels unwelcome here in the community and that is because they tease her because of her disability and are always calling her names. “I really don’t understand why people should tease her like that because she doesn’t deserve to be

Vhembe – The Mphephu Royal Council and Masana Private FET College celebrated Mental Health Day in style by donating a house to a mental health patient. The royal family and college donated a four-roomed house to Daniel Mukhoro (25) of Tshirolwe Extension 3 in Nzhelele, outside Makhado.   MEC for health and Social Development, Dr Norman Mabasa officially handed the house to Miriam Mukhoro who accepted the house on-behalf of her son, Daniel.   The two bedroomed house, with a kitchen, dinning room and bathroom was handed to the family on Tuesday morning.   The ceremony was also attended by David Mavhungu Mphephu who represented Vhavenda King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana, Esther Makhumisane who represented Vhembe Executive Mayor Councillor Tshitereke Matibe and Makhado Mayor David Mutavhatsindi.   Speaking on-behalf of the family, Miriam said she was thankful to God that she is no longer going to share a one-roomed shack with

PRESS STATEMENT. – Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Government of Canada, announced a landmark $19.4 million in support of 15 innovative, pioneering projects designed to improve mental health diagnosis and care in developing countries, many of them nations ravaged by conflict and disaster as well as poverty. The projects were selected through competitive scientific peer review from among 97 ideas submitted in response to a Grand Challenge that focuses on increased access and improved treatment, and addresses stigma for people with mental health disorders in developing countries.   Globally, close to 450 million people have mental health disorders; more than 75 percent of that number live in developing countries. In addition, according to the World Health Organisation, 85 percent of developing world patients with serious mental disorders receive no treatment at all.   “Mental health disorders are a leading cause of suffering and disability everywhere, but the

Each year around a thousand young women addicted to crystal methamphetamine, or tik, give birth to so-called tik babies in Cape Town. “I started smoking [heroine, dagga and tik] while I was 16 years old,” said Meggan Adams from the Cape Flats while filling her glass pipe with more of the white tik crystals. She is six-and-a-half-months pregnant with her second child. “With my first child I was smoking five packets [of tik] a day – one packet just wasn’t enough for me,” Meggan said. “There were times, after I smoked, that I could feel the child being like hyperactive in my tummy.” Meggan has been living on the streets of Cape Town since she was a child, and despite her pregnancy, prefers to sleep out on the street. According to her, she doesn’t like spending time at home and would rather roam around, begging for money to buy food.

The economic impact of not making proper mental health care available far exceeds the cost of actually providing it. This is according to Professor Crick Lund who estimates that in 2003 South Africa lost approximately U$3.6 billion due to lack of productivity and income caused by mental illness, compared to the U$59 million the country actually spends on it every year. “As you can see, we are losing a lot more than we are spending,” Lund said during his presentation at the Carnegie III Conference that focuses on Strategies to overcome Poverty and Inequality, currently underway at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Contrary to the general perception that mental illness is only problematic in high-income countries, or that poor people don’t get depressed, South Africa has a high burden of mental illness, said Lund who is with the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Illness at UCT. Every year one