ACDP welcomes Parliament and Cape Mental Health programme to provide knowledge about mental illness and access to help

MEDIA RELEASE
Cheryllyn Dudley MP and Whip
30th July 2013


ACDP welcomes Parliament and Cape Mental Health programme to provide knowledge about mental illness and access to help

·        Calls on MEC’s for Social Development and Health to strengthen partnerships to provide community access to programmes on mental illnesses and available support

·        WHO says SA is 6th highest in world for anxiety disorders

·        SA research shows one in five SA’s suffer from a mental condition   at some point in their life

According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) most recent Stress and Health Study, South Africa ranks as having the 6th highest prevalence for anxiety disorders compared to the rest of the World.

The ACDP welcomes Parliaments partnering with Cape Mental Health to provide employees with knowledge about mental illness and access to help by providing a comprehensive counselling service that assists Members of Parliament and Staff 24/7/365 with telephone counselling in a confidential manner and with all the official languages.

ACDP MP and Health Portfolio Committee Member, Cheryllyn Dudley said today that according to the first quarterly report (April 2013 to June 2013) of the Parliamentary Wellbeing Programme, most psychosocial cases were related to trauma, depression and grief.

"High stress and anxiety levels are linked to multiple societal and socio-economic risk factors - all major factors contributing to mental illness. Poverty, inequality, urbanisation, unemployment, trauma, violence and substance abuse being just some of these factors."

Research by South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) shows that one in five South Africans suffer from a mental condition at some point in their life.

The ACDP calls on the Ministers of Social Development and Health and all relevant MEC’s  to strengthen partnerships with provincial and local organisations to provide community access to programmes creating awareness and knowledge on how to identify these illnesses, how to deal with them and what support is available.