Mental health issues have been n “much, much worse” since the Covid pandemic and aren’t receiving the attention they deserve, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi told global leaders at last week’s World Economic Forum. .
“Mental health at work is just a subset of the whole mental health problem, and unfortunately, I think we are in trouble,” he said.
“It’s getting worse because of the stressors of life. Now, post-Covid, it’s even much, much worse. I don’t know, in other countries, [but] in my country, there’s a new issue of drugs. There’s a drug called crystal meth, which kids have gone to. It doesn’t make them high; it makes them go psychotic.”
‘All you want is a job’
He noted that in developing countries such as SA the priority was simply securing employment, unlike in developed countries where mental health challenges were often tied to workplace issues.
“Unemployment itself can cause serious mental stress — just being unemployed. In my country, that, I can assure you, is what’s going on, because just sitting idly there, especially if you have studied with the belief that you’re going to have a better life and you don’t have a job — that in itself causes mental health problems,” he said.
“It might be that in developed countries, they worry about what type of job [you have], whether it will reduce stress and all that. That’s not what is happening in low-income countries.”
Levels of sadness and worry on the rise
Another panellist, Steve MacMillan who is the chair, president and CEO of US-based medical technology company Hologic, shared some insights and data the firm has collected over four years from 142 countries.
While emotions such as anger and stress peaked in women during the pandemic, those were now being replaced by rising levels of sadness and worry — which are “far worse today than in a pre-Covid time.”
“I think in a post-Covid world it’s always about trying to balance everything, but there’s still so much that falls on women. And I think concerns about healthcare systems, concerns about rights, concerns about everything, have been magnified,” he said.
Mental health underfunded
“When healthcare systems get underfunded, the first to be discarded is mental health. We don’t start with it. In other words, we’ll deal with it if there is money,” Motsoaledi said.
He recalled that the World Health Organisation had convened a special conference on mental health about a decade ago.
“We even developed a programme. I don’t know about other countries, but in my country, I don’t think we have even implemented it.”
‘Children are in trouble’
Motsoaledi also voiced concerns about children’s lack of resilience and their reliance on energy drinks.
“The kids are not like us ... They want everything rolling in on a silver platter,” he said. “I’m worried. I see a lot of energy drinks used by our kids almost on a daily basis. It worries me because I don't think they are healthy ... I don’t have answers.”
He compared the present-day attitudes of young professionals with his own experience as a young doctor working in hospitals.
“At the age of 26, I could work for many hours on end in a rural hospital with no other doctor. It doesn’t happen now. You find a hospital with many, many young doctors, but complaining of overwork and blaming government, that government is useless and all that. I used to work for 16 hours in a labour ward, nonstop, and I thought it was normal ... No youngster will tolerate that now.”
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