COVID-19 has caused such devastation on the world, it has impacted the lives of millions of people around the world. This has heightened mental health problems amongst people who were already suffering with it. Furthermore, the pandemic has caused mental health problems for people who had no previous mental illness and disorders. The experience of the pandemic has caused a breakdown of social care, which is vital for people who experience mental health issues. Llivelihoods and economic loses played a factor in causing mental health issues. Some young people are experiencing PTSD, anxiety, depression, and insomnia for the first time in their lives and most of them do not know how to cope with it. Despite the rise of the mental health issues in the west, Western governments have created initiatives such virtual mental health services and using social media to impart mental health education and communication resources. Unlike the African governments, they need to do more to ensure that virtual services which were created for COVID-19 are efficient and accessible. In Africa the impact of the pandemic on mental health especially on the youth has been immense, given their weak health care system Semo (2020).
The mental health care services are generally low in Africa and African governments do not prioritise mental health services for the young people, since they are mostly focusing on rebuilding their economies. Costless mental health helplines can be used to provide services to people who are either mental health care workers in the villages and for people who are suffering from mental illness. World Health Organisation stated that there would be over 44 million people infected with COVID-19 and 190,000 deaths in Africa. The mental health issues will increase in the African Continent due to their weak health care system, unless the government ensures that the social and cultural resilience factors and coping mechanism are safe guarded and utilised. The consequences of the pandemic have triggered serious psychological issues at individual and community levels, which includes stress, grief, anxiety, depression, and symptoms of PTSD were reported at individual level whilst stigma and the interruption of social networks were observed at the community level. The main reasons of mental health issues were the incapability of families to care for their sick relatives along with the incapability of family members to be able to perform traditional and religious burial rituals for their loved ones who have died of COVID-19 this caused psychological distress to people. Furthermore, there has been extreme fear and anxiety related behaviour during the pandemic. This has created a difficult barrier to have preventive and curative measures and led to a crisis Frissa et al (2020).
To sustain the virus from further spreading, physical interactions were limited, and this led to limited access social support groups and treatment for young people who were already suffering with mental health issues. Moreover, having restricted access to faith-based institutions and traditional leaders due to social distancing, which caused loneliness amongst young people. The uncertainty of losing their jobs and their livelihoods, has caused so much stress amongst the young people in Africa, because the job insecurity was already at the all-time high pre-covid 19. It has been even worse for the young people who were already come from a low socio-economic difficulties and for those working in the informal sectors were not offered any economic security. Moreover, the financial strain it has caused a negative impact on young people’s mental health. after the epidemic Frissa et al (2020). There needs to be an improvement on how young people can access mental health services not just in the urban areas but in the rural areas since rural areas tend to be forgotten by the government. By using village health care workers to deliver health services, they can use them for educating people on mental health issues and destigmatise it and offer mental health care for people who need it. Whilst the government implement the social distancing rules, they should also include cultural attributes and resources that provide social support to mentally vulnerable youth.
Governments in Africa must address the mental health impact of Covid-19 and it must be prioritised. Mental health support for young people must be integrated into the pandemic response, by training Village health care workers in order for them to mentally support vulnerable young people and also combat misinformation and fear related behaviours as well during and after the pandemic Semo (2020). Mental health support services must be incorporated into the pandemic response. It is critical for these services to continue during the pandemic to ensure young people are safe and can easily their mental health services whenever need it, especially in the rural areas.
