Sometimes Taking Up Space, Hurts Mental Health And Suicide In Our Generation

Mental Health has been said to constitute a large and increasing part of the burden of disease worldwide. In fact, apparently a quarter of the world's population will develop a mental or behavioural disorder at some point in their lives. You could say it's the elephant in the room.

Essentially, it is a public health issue. Particularly, the World Health Organisation has found that depression is a leading cause of both injury and disease for people around the world. Further, depression is ostensibly the leading contributor to suicide. In 2014 suicide deaths in Botswana were 64. That means 0.43% of deaths in the country, in that year were attributable to suicide.

This placed Botswana at the 142nd ranking in cases of suicide, worldwide. Three years later, in 2017, 220 suicides occurred. This placed the country at the 57th position in the world ranking. This tripled the earlier statistics. Despite these statistics, mental health is the often bastardised and neglectfully forgotten arm of the health sector.

Editor's Comment
Gov’t must rectify recognition of Khama as Kgosi

While it is widely acknowledged that Khama holds the title of Kgosi, the government’s failure to properly gazette his recognition has raised serious concerns about adherence to legal procedures and the credibility of traditional leadership. (See a story elsewhere in this newspaper.) Recent court documents by the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Kgotla Autlwetse, shed light on the intricacies of Khama’s recognition process....

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