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The number of young people in South Africa requiring treatment for mental health problems has risen to more than 500,000, new data has revealed.
While around 60% of young people say they feel more relaxed and normal in the two years since treatment was started, around two-thirds of respondents in a survey by mental health charity Youth Foundation said they still feel anxious and depressed.
Thousands of young people are living with mental health conditions, contributing to suicide rates in South Africa of 13 per 100,000 adults and 50 per 100,000 adolescents.
South Africa suffers from the third highest adult suicide rate in the world and the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
Youth Foundation chief executive Angie Elvin says social issues like racism, poverty and socioeconomic challenges have contributed to the high suicide rates and mental health problems amongst young people.
“That’s why the focus of the Minister of Health is to build more community health centres, to improve access to mental health services. She’s keen to raise awareness about mental health, which is the one thing that we need to do in South Africa,” she told a media briefing in Johannesburg.
The South African Mental Health Programme, which launched in 2015, aims to treat up to 400,000 people over a three-year period.
It has already targeted more than 280,000 people with one, two or three inpatient mental health beds.
The National Treatment Agency, which is directly connected to the Government, has been tasked with matching clinical needs with resources in providing services for public funding.
The organisation says that its own engagement data shows that there are 449,700 people with mental illness in South Africa.