The International Organisation for Immigration (IOM) has revealed that it is 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 (pictured) 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.
He was speaking ahead of the World Mental Health Day which was celebrated yesterday under the theme “Mental Health in an Unequal World.”
“Mental health is about how you feel about yourself and how you feel about the world outside of emotions that you have. There is a flood where people see their homes being destroyed by a power bigger than them. And the poverty, when you bring all these things together; it is very clear that mental health needs in South Sudan are extremely large,” he said.
Auweraert said that in such circumstances, people feel disowned and may not feel like sharing their problems with others for fear of being ridiculed.
He further added that domestic violence too could aggravate the situation hence the need to talk to help people improve. He said that they carried out awareness campaigns with young people to make mental health issues acceptable like other diseases which are treated normally by doctors.
The IOM Chief said that they also do individual counselling for people who are traumatised. He said they would collaborate with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Gender to enable social workers to provide excellent mental health services to the people in need.
“We are in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Gender to mainstream overall health services that are being provided in South Sudan. I am very happy to see that both the ministries at the national level but also ministries at the state level are aware that mental health is an area where South Sudan needs also to invest in,” he added.
He stressed that it was difficult for someone who is stressed to take charge of his life. He said that a step forward would be by increasing investment and training many social workers who could champion the provision of mental work services.
He urged the government to consider mental health in their budgets. He further advised South Sudanese to always open up whenever they have personal issues so that they could be assisted through trauma healing.
He further advised people who live around those who are traumatised not to laugh at them but bear with them and try to give all the necessary help they require.
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 on top and there was a need for community intervention.
In 2015, the Mental Health Department under the Ministry of Health was established to accelerate service provision.
According to data published in July 2021, the number of IDPs in displacement sites is estimated as 374,845 (23 per cent) while IDPs in the host community are estimated to be 1,240,920 (77 per cent) making a total of 1, 615,765 approximation.
The total number of refugees living in neighbouring countries in the region; Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo is estimated to be 2.2 million.
The victims of floods are estimated to be nearly 0.6 million people in various states in South Sudan.