Number of People With Mental Problems Increases in Africa

Posted to the web 13 October 2008 Luanda The regional director for Africa of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Angolan Luís Gomes Sambo, this Friday affirmed that, in the continent, the number of people with mental health problems, neurological perturbations or with disturbances relating to the abuse of substances continues rising. This increase, he stated, results from various factors and especially to the consequences of infectious and parasite diseases, of foodstuff origin or risk factors, such as the abuse of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, on one hand, and to long-lasting psychological traumas caused by natural disasters, wars and extreme poverty, on the other hand. According to Gomes Sambo's message on the occasion of the World Mental Health Day, marked this Friday, besides this, the population's limited... [read full story]