There is only one psychiatrist for every half a million people in North West Province, according to a report on mental health policy released on Friday.
The ratio for the Western Cape is one per 111 111 - a 45-fold difference.
The report, by the University of Cape Town-based Mental Health and Poverty Project, said mental ill-health was strongly associated with poverty and social deprivation, and had to be prioritised to break this "vicious cycle".
It said a survey had shown that 16,5 percent of South Africans suffered from common mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and substance use disorders over a twelve-month period.
Continues Below ↓
Some important steps had been taken to develop policy and legislation for mental health in South Africa.
However, there were major gaps between policy and practice.
There was wide variation between provinces in the level of mental health resources and services, as shown by the figures for North West and the Western Cape.
In addition, only three of the nine provinces had been able to say how much they spent specifically on mental health.
Project co-ordinator Dr Crick Lund, told Sapa there was no internationally-recognised "ideal" ratio of psychiatrists to population, but the project had two years ago recommended a range of between 0.3 and one per 100 000.
As far as he knew this was the norm the department of health was now using in planning.
But this ratio was for treatment only of severe psychiatric conditions, not milder ones such as moderate anxiety and depression.
"The Western Cape probably exceeds those norms, but that doesn't mean it's adequate. That was a bare bones figure, a minimum," he said.
Lund said there was an international push for mental health services to be scaled up in low and middle income countries.
The report called for mental health to be prioritised in South Africa, and for the development of a new mental health policy - currently in draft form only - to be speeded up.
It also urged increased involvement of consumer, family and other organisations in raising public awareness and preventing stigma.
Mental health should be integrated into wider poverty alleviation and development policies. - Sapa
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
