Mental illness at ‘alarming’ level 0 The mental health situation in Namibia, especially in the northern rural regions, is alarming, says the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Andreas Mwoombola. Mwoombola was speaking at a workshop on mental health that forms part of Mental Health Week,
This year’s commemoration takes place under the theme ‘Policy on Mental Health in the Workplace’.
“In 2015, the Ministry of Health and Social Services recorded that close to 9 000 cases of mental illness were reported at medical health facilities throughout the country,” he said.
According to him, the situation is aggravated by the fact that communities blame mental illness on witchcraft.
Mwoombola, who is a human resources expert, said human resources practitioners must start paying greater attention to mental health at the workplace.
He also advised against issuing warnings to employees without getting a better understanding of their private lives.
“There may be a good reason why some employees always come to work late. I am not saying HR practitioners must protect workers but they need to look deeper in order to advise line managers on how to best deal with the situation,” he urged.
A 2001 Health Information System Report released by the health ministry revealed that 42 124 people treated at outpatient clinics were diagnosed with mental illnesses.
The report shows that at the time 21 500 to 32 500 adults were diagnosed with serious mental disorders, 108 313 with common mental disorders.
Between 3 600 and 7 200 children under the age of 15 were diagnosed with serious mental health problems and 6 600 children with learning or behavioural problems.
The report did not take into account Aids-related mental health problems, but noted that it is widely accepted that there is an increased risk of mental disorders among people who are HIV positive.
“The need for mental health intervention is very great, and yet there is no concerted effort to reduce the burden at the present time,” the report states.