3 REASONS SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTH ARE A HIGH-RISK DEMOGRAPHIC FOR MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES

South African youth are exposed to many different environmental factors that put them at a greater risk for mental health struggles.  While mental health has been on the global stage for the past decade, little progress has been made in rural low-to middle-income countries (LMIC).  In these countries, there are additional factors that greatly hinder the advancement in mental health care and resources.   Even in a post-apartheid South Africa, resources continue to be unequal among its citizens, predominantly impacting non-white individuals.  In a report conducted by the World Bank, the wealthiest 10% of the population own 71% of South Africa’s wealth, and poverty levels are highest among the black population.  As South Africa continues to navigate their “new democracy”, there are several environmental factors that need to be addressed to continue to create a better life for each citizen, particularly the next generations.  Human Promotion International published an article stating, “The challenges confronting the health and well-being of children in these post-colonial emerging economies, which have inherited a backlog of disadvantages and have a much lower health and socio-economic base are, understandably, much greater”.  While there are several factors that significantly impact South African youth, below three of the largest factors have been identified, as they impact the majority of citizens.  

POVERTY:

The majority of South Africans, unfortunately, have known poverty their entire lives.  According to the United Nations Human Development Index, 55.5% of the population is living in poverty. Furthermore, an estimated four million South Africans are in a state of multidimensional poverty, defined as poor health, malnutrition, a lack of clean water, inadequate access to healthcare services, and poor housing conditions, including temporary housing structures.  Being born into extreme poverty, means South African youth are likely going to remain in poverty for the duration of their lives.  An article published in Health Promotion International by Inge Petersen stated, “Impaired cognitive and socio-emotional development in early childhood traps people in a negative cycle of poor educational achievement and reduced productivity and wage-earning potential, which is transmitted to the next generation”.  

While children born into poverty are probably not fully aware of what “poverty” means, they can feel and see the toll it takes on their parents, older siblings, and family members.  Peterson goes on to state, “It is now well established that impaired cognitive, behavioral and emotional development in children has been linked to problems in parent-infant communication and attachment which have in turn been linked both to maternal depression and to difficult social circumstances….mental health promotion interventions during early childhood are critical given the disproportionate impact of exposure to risk influences on physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development relative to other developmental periods”.  Combating poverty is no small task, but it would be the catalyst for many other environmental factors impacting South African youth and their mental health. 

While South Africa’s Human Development Index has seen predominantly positive growth, their overall HDI score has much to be improved upon / Image Courtesy of World Bank

MALNUTRITION: 

With just over half of the population living below the poverty line, many South African families are food-insecure. An article by HH Vorster for African Journals Online, states,“Food insecurity exists when people are unsure where their next meal will be coming from. It is reasonable to suspect that most of the observed stunting and underweight in a country like South Africa would be the result of the inability of the poor to access enough nutritious food to meet their needs”.  CNN took a closer look and found that “Accessibility to fresh fruit and vegetables are a bit difficult, people have to spend money to get to a minibus taxi, go to the supermarket to buy healthy food. There’s less accessibility to healthy food”. Malnutrition is a direct effect of living in poverty and has a direct impact on mental health.  Not only is it detrimental to brain and body development, but it also changes the chemical makeup of your emotional processing. Vorster explains, “For many years now, nutritionists have understood the fundamental role of nutrition throughout the lifecycle for the sustained development of human capital. There is now firm evidence malnutrition adversely affects mental development, physical development, productivity, the span of working years – all of which significantly influence the economic potential of man”.  NBC wrote an article about the science behind being ‘hangry,’ and there is a lot of correlation between hunger and mental health.  They state, “Hunger as a state actually causes a lot of shifts in hormones, brain processes and the peripheral nervous system that are comparable to what we see in anger, fear and sadness.”

VIOLENCE: 

The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion states, “Children and adolescents exposed to violence are at risk for poor long-term behavioral and mental health outcomes, such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, regardless of whether they are victims, direct witnesses, or hear about the crime”.  While crime and violence is common in South Africa, and frankly, all part of the world, it’s the amount of exposure that adolescents have to these types of acts that impacts mental health.  The book, ‘Youth Violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa’, states, “in contemporary  South Africa, it is the young who are most likely to be both victims of violence and perpetrators of criminal acts. What makes South Africa’s problem unique is not so much the volume of crime as its  extraordinary violence, with interpersonal violence and the exponential growth in robbery the principal manifestations of this. Nor are gangs the only violence that the youth are exposed to: they are exposed to high levels of intimate partner violence in their own homes, between their parents and in their own intimate relationships and while we have no figures for child maltreatment, anecdotal evidence suggests that levels are high”.  Just how poverty tends to be a generation cycle, so does violence. 

CONCLUSION:  

There are many different factors that plan into an individual’s mental health, but when does it become the government’s responsibility to protect and provide for their citizens? While addressing the above will be no small feat, the South African government and global leaders will need to continuously collaborate to make major changes so that the new generations’ mental health will not be as severely impacted. As mentioned earlier, working to eliminate and manage poverty would be the catalyst for many of the harsh environmental factors South Africans are faced with.  There have been small steps made, but there is still a lot of work to accomplish and we can’t do it alone. If you are passionate about breaking down mental health stigmas, supporting resources and directly impacting future generations, then consider seeing how you can get involved with Enhle Together.  For more information, click here.