Cape Town - Recent research in the Western Cape shows that only 1 in 10 children with mental health problems ever receive a diagnosis/treatment for their mental health disorders, and with high levels of adversity further increasing their risk of developing them, practitioners and institutes are sounding the alarm over government’s inaction.
The National Department of Health released its Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policy in 2003 to strengthen services and support for young people, but 20 years later, a coalition of mental health practitioners and institutes said that child and adolescent mental health services remain grossly understaffed and underfunded.
As Child Protection Week and Youth Month kicks off today, in June, this coalition is drawing attention to this and calling on government to implement the necessary human and financial resources to close the treatment gap and deliver on young people’s right to mental health services.
This call was made in a joint statement released by the Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health (University of Cape Town), Centre for Autism Research in Africa (University of Cape Town), the Institute of Life Course Health Research (University of Stellenbosch), and the South African Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions.
They made the case that there are only 15 child and adolescent psychiatrists working in the public health system, and in most communities, mental health services for young people are simply unavailable - leaving nine in every 10 children with a diagnosable mental disorder.
Petrus de Vries from Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UCT, said: “The impact of this is profound on many levels. First, the child or young person will have direct distress and impairment as a result of their untreated mental health disorder. Next this may prevent them from accessing education or lead to a range of problems in school, including absence, bullying and failure.”
De Vries also highlighted the link between severe mental health disorders with suicide and suicidal attempts and that, outside school, mental health disorders were associated with criminal behaviours and vulnerability to abuse and neglect.
“Importantly, children live in the context of families and communities where mental health problems can lead to parental/caregiver employment difficulties, financial problems and social exclusion. Taken together, this is a vicious cycle that will only become worse and worse if nothing is done,” he said.
In the joint statement, they called on the Minister of Health and Minister of Finance to put the necessary resources in place as outlined in the 2003 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policy.
“Nearly a year has passed since the South African Child Gauge focused attention on children’s mental health. This annual publication of the Children’s Institute at UCT highlighted how South Africa’s children are exposed to extraordinarily high levels of adversity, which increase their risk of developing mental health problems. It's therefore not surprising that more than one in 10 children in South Africa have a diagnosable and treatable mental disorder.“