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Mental health is often overlooked in Africa’s public health discourse, but its economic consequences are staggering. There are urgent calls for businesses to prioritize and support the mental health needs of their employees. Cynthia Kodowu, a Ghanaian human resources expert, told DW that she gives her employees some strongly worded advice about protecting their mental health in the workplace.
“I tell my employees and everybody else that you’re chasing that money, why don’t you want to take that leave? If you quit today, the cemetery won’t pay you any. Just in case,” she says. Their warning is backed by worrying statistics about the state of mental health of people across Africa.
World Health Organization (WHO) figures show that its Africa region has the world’s highest suicide rate. In 2019, it was measured at 11.2 per 100,000 population, while the global average was 9 per 100,000. The male suicide rate in the WHO African Region is the highest among all WHO regions with 18 per 100,000 population – compared to the global average of 12.4 per 100,000.
About 77% of suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries, with suicide rates particularly high in Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Botswana, Eritrea, Cameroon and Ivory Coast. Beyond the statistics, workplace mental health is largely ignored, according to Patience Osekre, a psychiatrist in Accra, Ghana. “For employees, their productivity suffers and this impacts their well-being and other aspects of work,” he told DW.
WHO’s World Mental Health Day 2024 – which focused on prioritizing mental health in the workplace – highlighted how poor working conditions and job-related stress can worsen existing mental health conditions. WHO stressed the need for global action to protect and promote mental health in the workplace, to ensure that people with mental health conditions are treated fairly and are not subjected to discrimination, stigma or threats to their human dignity. Do not have to face violation.
The workforce is rarely working at optimal levels
According to WHO, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost each year due to depression and anxiety globally, resulting in a loss of $1 trillion per year in productivity. “Global uncertainty and insecurity is a big thing, with burnout becoming a common issue in the workplace,” Osekre said. “We’re talking about your decision-making capacity, your ability to make decisions, your choices, your lifestyle, all of that obviously impacts the way you function.”
Osekre said that since employees spend most of their time in a work environment, their mental health needs to be prioritized. “We also need to be emotionally literate, we need to understand how we’re feeling and even have the vocabulary to be able to express how we’re feeling,” Osekre said. There should also be.”
He said line managers and supervisors may be “fixated” on increasing the workload on their best employees in the hope of improving productivity. “These are people who want to do their best for the organization because it matters to their self-respect,” Koduvu said. “And so they just keep going. We’ve had some of the best talent leave this world and it’s all because they couldn’t catch a break.”
treatment options are missing
Koduvu and Osekre agree that it would be helpful for businesses to pay attention to their employees, even in highly competitive job markets where each salary is highly valued. “As HR, we need to do proper workforce planning,” Koduvu said. “We’ve created a culture where people feel obligated to do more work to prove themselves. We’ve been trained not to complain. We’ve been trained to just say it’s OK.” Well, give it to God, you’ll get better.
This includes allowing overworked employees to take time off to improve their mental health without the threat of losing their jobs. According to Osekre, this will lead to better production of workers. “The employee starts again with an energy that will blow your mind, because this person is able to solve whatever challenges they were going through during that period,” he told DW.
If you are suffering from severe emotional stress or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information about where to get such help, no matter where you live in the world, on this website:
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