Mental Health in Africa

In a special HPOD event on Mental Health in Africa, speakers delved into the state of existing law, compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), and mechanisms for adapting policy ideas and initiatives to the African context.

 

Elizabeth Kamundia, who authored the briefing paper on the right to legal capacity for the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, delivered the keynote speech. Emmanuel K. Akyeampong, the Oppenheimer Faculty Director of the Harvard University Center for African Studies, and Vikram H. Patel, the Pershing Square Professor of Global Health, participated as commentators. 

 

Outlining the reality of mental health in Africa, panelists spoke truth to a subject that is still shrouded with misunderstanding and stereotypes. Kamundia pushed the audience to collectively address the silence, the stigma, the statistics, and the story behind mental illness.

 

In far too many instances, Kamundia said, human rights violations in Africa are obscured by a deep and consequential silence. There is silence on the issue of statutory guidelines that abolish the right of disabled people to vote. There is silence when the testimonies of disabled people are viewed as lesser than those of non-disabled, often leading to gross situations of injustice. There is silence around involuntary treatment, criminalization of attempted suicides, and lack of support for decision-making. There is silence in mental health law on the appropriate role for traditional faith healers who, while in many cases serve as key community resources, have also been known to promote harmful practices such as forced fasting, intensive praying, beating, and chaining as treatments.

 

Beyond this pervasive silence, stigma fed by misconceptions about mental health also impedes progress. Due to stigma, families may feel pressured to keep mental illness hidden, which prevents them from seeking and obtaining necessary support. In many cases, the language used to describe mental illness further perpetuates negative stereotypes. Yet another challenge faced is the difficulty in gathering accurate statistics about mental health in Africa, wherein subtleties such as the wording of survey questions must be adjusted significantly from those used in a Western context. 

 

Despite these barriers, Kumundia emphasized the strong cause for hope in Africa, especially following the innovative programs and policies introduced in recent years. For example, peer support groups, in which individuals with lived experience are empowered to tell their own story in a space separate from the influence of mental health professionals, have yielded transformational, positive shifts.

 

Indeed, a deeply-rooted colonial history continues to leave its legacy in the form of outdated, discriminatory laws towards the disabled in much of the Global South. However, ultimately, Patel emphasized that investing in effective care, opening up asylums, constructing awareness campaigns, and changing existing structures has the potential to yield important change.