Mama Africa! Her youth are as vibrant and as energetic as they come. They want to live life on the fast lane.
They literally want to own the Africa is Rising narrative and swim and dive all the way to the top of the narrative and continent.
However, some end up sinking really low when their expectations are not met. Suicide cases among the youth, which investigative reports from the mainstream media link to depression have been on the rise in most African countries.
How are the youth getting to this destructiveness? Why are our young people resorting to hopelessness? Why do they suddenly become so disinterested in life that they no longer want to live on?
Experts attribute it to depression, a mental disorder. According to the American Psychological Association, depression is an extreme sadness or despair that lasts more than days, interferes with the activities of daily life and can even cause physical pain.
Unlike in America and other western countries where there is a high level of public awareness on depression, Africa lacks the awareness required to provide adequate care to people suffering from depression.
To begin with, most people in Africa do not understand what depression is. Dr Christopher G Ellis notes his observations on how depression in underdiagnosed and unrecognized in the South African Medical Journal in an Article where he explains challenges that South African Doctors encounter when handling depression in their patients.
Rampant poverty has also made access to health care for the affected an uphill task. The financial instability in most African countries make most youths susceptible to suicide because they are unable to access medical care required to treat depression.
Some are left with no choice but to give up on life altogether. However, all is not lost and we can combat depression and help our youths live productive lives.
The church, family, media and even our education system all have a role they can play to ensure we do not lose our jewels to hopelessness.
We can begin at a personal level with gestures as simple as texting and checking up on our friends and relatives, and asking them how they are doing.
If we all come together, we can definitely make depression lose hope on our youths and let them be the productive members of our continent as it should be.