Urgent need to focus on SA children’s mental health — president of SA Society of Psychiatrists

Dr Anusha Lachman is the first child psychiatrist to hold the position as president of the SA Society of Psychiatrists.

Insight into the country’s mental health crisis, she says, is partly gauged from the number of referrals to primary health care centres for mental health support and evidenced by the long waiting lists for children to be assessed at specialist mental health clinics and at hospitals.

“We do have statistics on issues which affect children in South Africa disproportionately,” she says, “on food insecurity, intimate partner violence, instability in terms of accommodation etc. There are huge occurrences of abuse but there are inadequate services for children to be removed from those abusive homes, because we don’t have sufficient children’s homes or safety placements for example.

In terms of publication bias, she says the huge issue is that editorial boards and funders of journals consist largely of privileged white men. “They don’t represent people of colour and ethnic majorities outside of the industrialised northern hemisphere countries.

“If you’re an adult psychiatrist, a physician a paediatrician, or a nurse, or even somebody treating adults, it’s your job to be aware of mental health problems in children,” Lachman adds. “I feel strongly about changing the narrative and moving away from the idea that it’s a specialist realm, because mental health is everybody’s business and child mental health should be pervasive in terms of focus, across various sectors.

South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

South Africa: Focus On Children, Urges President of SA Society of PsychiatristsThere are serious gaps in psychiatry regarding treatment, prevention and care for children and adolescents in South Africa. Offering solutions, Dr Anusha Lachman tells Spotlight psychiatric services should be offered in ways that are Afro-centric and culturally sensitive.
Source: allafrica - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »

Civil society on what Zondo Commission and State Capture report got right and wrongReleased on Wednesday, 6 March, the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture looks at the role of commissions of inquiry in our society; the successes of the Zondo Commission; the gaps or challenges experienced by the commission; and some of the lessons learnt.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

SA’s great white sharks need urgent protection, say marine biologistsResearchers don’t want authorities let off the hook over the dwindling great white shark population
Source: mailandguardian - 🏆 2. / 92 Read more »

Magudumana threatens court application over of Showmax docu-series - SABC NewsDr. Magudumana threatens to launch urgent application to stop release of Showmax's docu-series.
Source: SABC News Online - 🏆 32. / 51 Read more »

South African society dumps disdain on all the other TintswalosThe ANC’s decline is deserved. But the ruling party mirrors a society suffused with contempt for poverty and repairing that requires solidarity, not just punish
Source: mailandguardian - 🏆 2. / 92 Read more »

NPO calls on civil society to unite against Joburg water crisis‘I think that we’re sitting on infrastructure that is falling apart and unless we literally take this on as an issue we need to focus on, we are going to be experiencing these water cuts for a number of years,’ says Dr Ferrial Adam, executive manager at WaterCAN.
Source: Moneyweb - 🏆 5. / 77 Read more »