The UN predicts that 68% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. Mental illness, substance abuse and violence are interrelated upshots of rapid urbanisation.
“We have the problem of a continuous inflow of people into our cities piling shack upon shack, as well as more density within our townships creating slum areas, and an established population in our cities adding to our natural population growth — and absolutely no planning,” Dr Lesley Robertson from Wits University’s department of psychiatry said.
“Are informal settlements sufficiently represented, given their high density? How do the surveys address population migration? And what are they identifying in urban areas amongst youth? We don’t know what we are dealing with,” Robertson said. People who suffer from mental illness and their families, who come to the cities in search of treatment and a higher standard of care, are “met with an overloaded system that cannot accommodate them”, Breen said. In addition, poverty, inequality and unemployment trigger or worsen mental health issues.
“It is no good us trying to work intersectorally in the district when the messages come down from the top in silos,” Robertson said. “It just creates conflict between departments at grassroots level — and the person with a mental illness or intellectual disability is pushed from pillar to post.”
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