Poor living conditions contribute to mental health problems -Malawi study
Lack of basic necessities amongst people living in suburban areas increases their risk of developing mental problems, a study by St John of God College of Health Sciences in Mzuzu reveals.
The college presented findings of the research at Masasa on Thursday.
The research study titled ‘Community Needs Health Assessment’ conducted this year (2015) in Masasa Township in the city has revealed that two in every five families survive on either one or two meals a day without breakfast.
According to the Coordinator of Academic Programmes at the institution, Isaac Cheke Ziba, if a person does not eat sufficiently, he or she cannot think positively as it becomes hard for them to have peace of mind.
“Every human needs to eat adequately. We don’t just eat to satisfy the lust of our stomachs, but these essential foods contain vital vitamins that usually help us to think properly.
“How can you have a peaceful sleep when you are hungry? A hungry man is always an angry and worried man. Do you expect a person in such a condition to effectively contribute to the development of their communities and the country as whole?” wondered Ziba.
In the case of expectant mothers not taking foods which contain all the six food groups, he said it can obviously affect the unborn child and chances that the child will develop mental problems sooner or later in their lifetime are high.
The institution’s (St John of God College of Health Sciences) study has also revealed that most suburban dwellers spend many hours of the day fetching water for domestic purposes since most of them do not have access to potable water.
Most residents rely on firewood and charcoal for cooking which are very scarce in Masasa. The academic programmes coordinator also said the study findings had revealed that the residents spend a lot of energy looking for firewood and water even when they have hardly eaten anything.
“To make matters worse, you will find that a person has not eaten in the morning, yet he or she is diverting lots of their energies in search for basic items such as water and firewood,” he said.
He observed that with such living conditions, individuals are at higher risk of developing mental problems because they do not have enough time to rest or do business to uplift their livelihood.
Apart from training health workers, St John of God College of Health Sciences also provides counseling and treatment to people with mental problems.
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There is no poverty at the State House but He does not think rationally and his head does not touch (mutu wake siwugwira olo pang’ono). How do you explain this? Does a lot of wealth cause mental retardation as well???
@ 1 you talk sense. Keep it up!
Thanks!
The research is not informing malawians of anything new. Is Vimbuza a mental illness? I ask beause poverty smells like Vimbuza. A big percentage of malawians are considered poor. Are we facing an epidermic incedence of mental illnesses or poverty and mental illnesses connections,in the research, are only relevant in the cities where it was conducted? I would say it is a good start.
How much money have you spent on your research? How much have they paid you? Lusaka ku nayamba kale ku Malawi
Bwanji bilingual alibe misala. Kodi Ukufuna FUNDING? Kumasasa ndakhalako. Ine ndi waku mwela. It is no different from Ndirande, Bangwe, Makhetha, NATCHOLI.
True, chamba can’t make pipo mad, look at Spear, Bunny Wailor, Buzy Signal, Culture they have never gone mad.
A Ziwa, mpaka research zomwezi ??
Why waste time and resources doing a research whose findings you can predict well in advance because there is sufficient quality findings? And there is a big difference between cause and association. Does it occur to you that mental illness ( e.g. corrupt minds leading to cashgate, wrong priority setting- ministerial cars instead of paying teachers etc) may be contributing to poor living conditions?
Pliz big brains, study about poverty mentality and how it conteibutes to poverty not about how poverty affects mental. Grow up in ur minds.ur research was already done by somone in Europe so no work done to you.
Umphawi ukakula mutu sungagwire. A Cheke Ziba zimenezi sizofunikanso research, mwangoononga ndalama
This is what I have always known. I personally do not have issues whether marijuana gets legalized or not. What I am not comfortable with are lies that it makes people go mad. Mental illnesses are mainly associated with the poor not the affluent.
The Culture of Poverty – A Social Theory by Oscar Lewis …………………………………………………………………………………… The Qry is an attempt to explain why poverty exists despite anti-poverty programmes. Since human action is both constrained and enabled by the meanings people give to their actions; these dynamics should become central to our understnding of the production and reproduction of poverty and social inequality hence the madness n social chaos. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The poor are not simply poor or lack resources hence mad as the reserach puts it; but also acquire a poverty-perpetuating value system. That is, a culture of poverty hence mechanisms that tend to… Read more »