Mental health crisis in teenagers on the rise

At least 56 children aged between 14 to 16 years have been admitted to the Juba Teaching Hospital with mental illness, a health official has said.

One hundred others are moving from home to receive treatment at the psychiatric department in the hospital.

Mental illness is a health problem that affects how a person thinks, behaves, feels, and interacts with other people. It is also called a mental disorder.

The Head of Psychology and Psychiatry at the Juba Teaching Hospital, Emmanuel Duku Philip, said the mental problem was very common in both adolescents and adults in Juba. 

He appealed to the government to beef up resources to support psychiatric and psychological departments.

“It is time to open up mental well-being by opening mental services such as counseling and creating more awareness.

“We have 56 [people] who have been admitted and the other 100 are getting the treatment in our department,” Duku said.

He made the statement during the World Mental Health Day celebration at Juba Teaching Hospital yesterday.

“Mental health service should be available for everyone to get access to mental medication because the number of people getting a mental problem is on the rise in South Sudan,” Duku stated.

He said the doctors at the department of health only treat the mental situation but not mental wellbeing for everyone that involves the needs to cope up with the normal stresses of life.

Duku said the department of psychiatry needs more medical professionals, adding this requires training of more medical personnel in the department.

“It’s our work as the profession in the department to take care of the patients suffering from mental illness and that needs more people who [are] trained in that field,” he said.

Cases on the rise

On his part, the Supervisor of Health, Safety, and Environment at Zain South Sudan Michael Kiir said the Zain Company decided to support mental health because of the number of mental cases in different working institutions.

“Sometimes we invite doctors to go and present for our staff to give guidelines and on how to address the mental illness among our staff,” Kiir said.

He said it was everybody’s responsibility to address the mental illness and that it must be taken seriously.

Director-General for Juba Teaching Hospital, Dr. Frederick Khamis Tawad said mental health should become a priority in all institutions including private and government institutions.

He said the illness affects everybody since the human body is controlled by the help of the mind that requires more support in the department.

“Mental health is very important and it should become a priority. We always work together with other partners to address this issue (mental health),” said Dr. Khamis

Earlier in the week, the International Organisation for Immigration (IOM) revealed that it was willing to partner with the national government in offering services to alleviate mental health-related illnesses in the country.

The IOM Chief of Mission Peter Van Der Auweraert said the mental health disorders were prevalent in the country due to several years of civil war, displacement, emergencies like floods, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He added the right approach of addressing them in South Sudan was a fast response to their causes.

In June 2021, the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Technical Working Group (TWG) in South Sudan, which was chaired by IOM and co-chaired by UNICEF conducted a dialogue on Mental Health Needs and MHPSS services in South Sudan in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Atong Ayuel reported that epilepsy, seizures, and substance-induced mental disorders were common and there was a need for community intervention.