Mental Health Policy in South Africa: Exploring Problem Representation

This book investigates how mental health in South Africa is conceptualised and constructed in public policy. Critiquing embedded assumptions within existing policy documentation, the book advocates for policy solutions centred on poverty alleviation and economic development.

Mental health in South Africa has historically been neglected within the health-care system, a stark reality underscored by the Life Esidimeni tragedy, which exposed widespread mismanagement, negligence, and insufficient resources in mental health-care services. While South Africa has enacted progressive mental health policies, their effective implementation remains hindered by systemic challenges. This book investigates the dominant problems represented in mental health policies, including the segregation of mental health from general health services, inadequate intersectoral collaboration in mental health care, community disconnection from mental health services, the association between poverty and mental health issues, and infringements upon the rights of individuals with mental health problems. Overall, the book underscores mental health as a socio-economic issue, requiring new policy solutions.

This book will be an essential read for mental health professionals and policy makers in South Africa, as well as for researchers working on the good governance of mental health, both within the country and at global and multilateral levels.

Claire Morrison works as a fundraising officer at Camp Sizanani Life Skills, a non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering South Africa’s orphaned, vulnerable, and at-risk youth. She was educated at Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town.

Pieter Fourie teaches Political Science at Stellenbosch University. He has worked in the field of Global Health since the late 1990s, including at UNAIDS and at the AIDS Foundation of South Africa, and he has taught at universities in South Africa and Australia.

Ubanesia Adams teaches Political Science at Stellenbosch University. She was educated at Stellenbosch University and the University of Sussex. Her specialisation is in public policy analysis, with a particular focus on gender and health.