Lungile Gamede is a young professional nurse who has worked in urban and rural public hospitals as well as starting her own reproductive health outreach to young women. We asked her what she felt was the biggest need in terms of improving the mental health of both healthcare workers and the people they serve in clinics and hospitals.
“Especially in the area of mental health, there’s a huge problem as far as human resources are concerned and if not dealt with in the future, will further exacerbate burnout.”
Lungile was drawn into nursing when, as an 8-year-old girl, she accompanied her mother on her antenatal visits. “I was just so fascinated by how beautiful it is to see life inside the belly. And his heartbeat. I was just so fascinated. And I knew from that point that this is the stream that I’d like to go into.”
Having only qualified fairly recently, Lungile recognises that she is still young and fresh, and that the stresses and strains of working as a nurse can lead to burnout. When it comes to midwives, mental health is especially important. “If we have midwives that are burnt out, you are going to have pregnant women who don’t really receive the best treatment, who themselves will probably be wounded [psychologically] by midwives.” The psychological wound that pregnant women receive from their caregivers is called obstetric violence and is something that is widespread in South Africa.
This could lead to a new mother having a higher risk of postpartum depression, that could affect bonding with her child. “And, you know about the whole phenomenon of the first 1000 days and how that also shapes the mental health of the child, even as an adult,” says Lungile.
One of the solutions, according to Lungile, lies in whether we can attract more people into the healthcare worker profession. “We all have a role to play. Talk to someone who you think would make a great nurse and direct them along the right path. And make sure they’re supported because we need a lot of nurses coming in, a lot of midwives coming in. And also, not only coming in, but staying because that’s also another problem. We recruit, but we don’t retain because of the systemic issues that we have within our public health system.”
With mental health, everything is interconnected. Strengthening the healthcare system by focussing on the human resources element can go a long way to improving the mental health of the workers themselves, as well as the people they serve, be they mothers, or people living with HIV or TB.
On 7-8 August, FPD will be hosting a round table discussion on Human Health Resources for Mental Health. According to Professor Melvyn Freeman, who has been heading up this process, we are making progress. He says, “Ensuring mental health care, treatment and rehabilitation for all requires an innovative mix of services that are integrated into general health care. South Africa, like most other low and middle income countries, has far too few professionally trained mental health practitioners to meet the need for care, but the good news is that research has shown conclusively that people with a relatively short training in mental health can, with ongoing supervision, deal with the majority of mental health conditions, thus leaving the professionals to deal with the more complex cases. It is definitely possible to provide services to all, but this needs commitment and concerted efforts to reform mental health care services. I believe though that we are well on our way to achieving this.”