Rare mental health clinics struggle amid South Sudan violence
MUNDIR, Aug 11: Joy Falatiya, a 35-year-old South Sudanese mother, experienced homelessness and pennilessness after her husband kicked her and five children out of their home in March 2024.
She had considered ending her life, but has since made a remarkable recovery thanks to the support of well-wishers and a mental health clinic nearby.
The clinic in Mundri, South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state, is a rare and endangered facility in a country desperate for more mental health services.
The clinic is part of a project that aimed to provide mental health services for the first time to over 20,000 people across the East African country.
Launched in late 2022, it proved a lifeline for patients like Falatiya in a country where mental health services are almost non-existent in the government-run health system. Implemented by a group of charities led by Amref Health Africa, the program has partnered with government health centers, Catholic parishes, and local radio stations.
South Sudan has the fourth-highest suicide rate in Africa and is ranked thirteenth globally, with suicide affecting mostly the internally displaced.
Mental health issues are a huge obstacle to the development of South Sudan, with more than a third of those screened by the Amref project showing signs of either psychological distress or mental health disorders.
Last month, authorities in Juba raised an alarm after 12 cases of suicide were reported in just a week in the South Sudan capital.
Dr. Atong Ayuel Longar, one of South Sudan’s few psychiatrists and the leader of the mental health department at the health ministry, said a pervasive sense of “uncertainty” affects the population the most amid the constant threat of war. She said that people can’t plan for tomorrow and fear similar fighting could resume there ten years later.
In Mundri, the AP visited several mental health facilities in June and spoke to many patients, including women who have recently lost relatives in South Sudan’s conflict. (AP)
in London, England, on Monday. (PTI)