UP TO 50% OF PREGNANT WOMEN COULD EXHIBIT MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
MENTAL illness affects millions of people every year, therefore it is crucial that frank discussions about mental health are encouraged in society.
According to a paper published in the international peer-review journal Global Mental Health, titled “Costs of common perinatal mental health problems in South Africa”, between 16% and 50% of pregnant women and those who have given birth within a year exhibit signs of depression and/or anxiety.
The estimated cost of perinatal mental health issues is R49 billion, taking into account the long-term effects of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder and suicide on mothers and children.
Untreated mental health issues affect women’s capacity to work and engage in other productive activities.
Evidence from studies conducted in South Africa has also demonstrated a link between maternal depression and children’s respiratory tract infections, chronic wheezing, asthma, stunted growth, and mental health issues.
Examples of common maternal mental health problems include depression in pregnancy and postnatally and anxiety disorders like phobias and generalised anxiety disorder.
While significant progress has been made in South Africa with regard to mental health policies and interventions that include assessment and management of perinatal mental health problems, significant underinvestment prevents progress, according to Associate Professor Simone Honikman, co-author of the study and director of the Perinatal Mental Health Project at the Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health at UCT.
Annette Bauer, lead researcher and assistant professorial research fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE), commented that: “We have taken a long-term and intergenerational perspective towards assessing the costs of perinatal mental health problems. This has helped us to understand the ‘big picture’ of the costs of depression and anxiety among pregnant women and mothers on themselves, the economy and society more broadly.”
“These costs in South Africa are much higher – relative to the size of the economy – than we found for the UK a few years ago,” indicated Martin Knapp, co-author and
Professor of Health and Social Care Policy at the LSE.
He says that one reason is that there is a much higher prevalence of perinatal mental illness in low- and middle-income countries than in the high-income countries.
“The effects on mothers and their children can be so severe and long lasting in low-resource settings.”
The researchers call for action to address the impact of Covid-19related mental health issues.
They emphasise the importance of cross-sector collaboration and community-based strategies to promote perinatal mental health by addressing the social causes of mental illness, such as violence against women, as well as reducing mental health stigma and increasing demand for and uptake of care.
Furthermore, competency-based training, supervision, and support for maternity staff and other frontline providers to provide primarylevel mental health care should be included in implementation strategies.
Salary positions for non-specialist mental health providers in maternal and child services and communitybased settings must also be created, the researchers say.