Speech delivered by Dr. Buthelzi on behalf of the MEC for Health and Welfare during the occasion of Mental Health Awareness and Family Day Hayani Hospital

11 November 2004

Programme director
Honoured guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am highly and truly honoured to have the opportunity to address this important gathering.

This year has been declared the international year of families. Indeed the year carries significance because 2004 also marks the ten-year celebrations of the attainment of democracy in our country.

Thus the international year of families presents an opportunity for all of us to recall the importance of the family and its place in the ongoing struggle to provide a better life for our people.

We are elated at the fact that as we celebrate the International Year of Families and the ten years of freedom, we have not forgotten those of our people who are mentally challenged.

Indeed they are part of our families and as we make sure that the well-being of families become a central focus of all those concerned with national development and poverty eradication, we must also ensure that the well being of the mentally challenged is taken care of.

This should be so because issues related to mental well being are as important as issues of physical well being.

Good mental health is not just the absence of mental health problems.

Such problems range from worries and grief we all experience as part of everyday life, to the most bleak, suicidal depression or complete loss of touch with everyday reality.

These problems can cause real and lasting damage both to the individual and to the community.

In fact severe mental health problems often have serious economic consequences, which in turn leads to underemployment, or unemployment and therefore poverty.

Compounded by other social problems such as violence against women and children, the social effects of mental health problems are indeed devastating.

The socio-economic stress, emanating from mental health problems correlate and often lead to suicide and sometimes substance abuse.

The problem of alcohol and substance abuse is most prevalent among the youth and the unemployed.

We are therefore challenged to enhance social protection, integration and cohesion of the youth most vulnerable by enhancing their capacity to engage meaningfully to build a caring society.

We must therefore give added attention to the matter of youth development, in particular with regard to prevention of substance abuse, which often lead to mental health problems.

We must ensure that we enhance youth access to social services and work opportunities through such programmes as the Expanded Public Works Programme and other poverty relief programmes aimed at mitigating the effects of social deprivation, often leading to mental health problems.

At the same time we must ensure that we raise to higher levels drug abuse awareness campaigns and promote healthy life styles among our people in general and our youth in particular.

We must all recognise the dangers of alcohol abuse and its effects on mental well-being.

Programme director,

Many people with mental health problems are always shunned or discriminated against by their families, friends and even the professionals who are supposed to be caring for them.

The prevalence of these acts of human rights abuse at our psychiatric institutions led to the overhauling of the mental health legislation, which led to the enactment of Mental Health Care Act.

This act provides for the care, treatment and rehabilitation of persons who are mentally ill. It also entrenches their rights, which we must protect and ensure that they are observed.

Government has, deinstitutionalised the care of the indigent members of our society, but particularly the mentally challenged through the creation of the model of Home and Community Based Care.

This model is considered to be effective since it integrate the mentally ill into the broader communities and emphasise increased community resources to ensure adequate care.

Mental health has also been integrated into the comprehensive primary health care system.

Currently our professionals are screening for mental health problems, do basic counselling and even referrals.

These and other measures are government’s interventions to address problems related to mental health.

Government will continue to seek other ways of ensuring that adequate resources are made available for the development of care, treatment and rehabilitation for mentally ill people within the community settings.

As we celebrate today, we recommit ourselves to ensuring the creation of an environment that sustains and support families for the benefit of our people including the mentally challenged.

We urge other government departments, civil society, businesses and individuals to keep working for programmes and policies that support and recognize the contributions that the mentally challenged make to the development and reconstruction of our country.

We wish you a happy family day.

Thank you.

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