On the occasion of International African Women’s Day, the Conseil Jeune foundation organized a webinar on the theme of women’s mental health on our continent.
And I was really happy to participate…
The organization of the webinar
On the occasion of this African Women’s Day, it was a question of organizing a reflection on the mental health of our female populations. This is how the Fondation Conseil Jeune, accompanied by the association YOHEDA and the organization WGH (Women in Global Health Cameroon), decided to set up this workshop. Initially the date was scheduled for Monday July 31, then it was postponed to Thursday August 3. Initially there was talk of a face-to-face workshop, then it was decided that it would be organized remotely. This is how Hemès Nkwa, who was one of the organizers, started calling left and right, in order to be able to stall the speakers, the communicators, the moderators, the graphic designers, the participants, etc.
She even had to explain what female mental health means, before telling us how to download the Zoom app to get started…
The context of the African woman
We don’t realize it, but the African woman is under unimaginable pressures and burdens! Already, it is she who is destined for childbirth. It is she who is in charge of the motherhood and the education of all the children. It is she who must ensure the sentimental balance of the home, as well as the hygienic balance and the general cleanliness of the household.
The African woman has the moral obligation to marry, otherwise she will be treated as an old maid. She is forced to sometimes abandon her personality to accommodate the representation of the submissive African woman. She must be efficient at work, efficient with the children, efficient with her husband and those around her, in short, she must be a superwoman. She must be able to cook over a wood fire and wear proper makeup all day. She is known for being tough, strong, and ready to take it all.
It is the African woman who sleeps in the hospital when there is a relative who is hospitalized. She is the one who picks up the little children from school. It is the African woman who must go to bereavements and funerals to help. It is the African woman who is at the same time subject to unemployment, financial insecurity, single parenthood, domestic violence or rape, sexual harassment in the workplace, forced marriages, crimes of passion, villainous assaults because that she is biologically weaker than men, or to discrimination based on gender.
In short, so many factors that push African women to go “crazy”, even if unfortunately we only diagnose them very rarely…
African women’s mental problems begin at an early age. Source: griot.tv /CC-BY
female mental health
First, what is mental health? This is a “a state of mental well-being that enables us to cope with life’s stressors, realize our potential, learn and work well, and contribute to the life of the community. »
It’s true, it’s very academic. But we can remember that mental health becomes affected when you have deteriorated your cognitive potential, and you are no longer fully able to carry out your personal, professional, community, family, spiritual missions, etc.
The African woman therefore suffers from this disease. She is a regular victim of depression, anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress dysfunction. The African woman is all the more exposed as she is not used to going to see a specialist. It being understood that on our continent, the visit to the shrink (psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, psychologist) is still considered here as a taboo.
Result: our women suffer in silence, our women stress in silence, our women cry in silence when they are alone in the room. They develop somatic illnesses (headaches, cardiovascular problems, etc.) which are actually due to psychological pathologies. But unfortunately they also die in silence, since we are in a general environment that does not even take into account their particularities…
What solutions?
In reality, there are not thirty-six thousand! We should already start by arranging the living environment of African women, and giving pride of place to their real potential and their psychic balance. In other words, men should transform their macho patriarchy into positive masculinity, that is to say, they should support their wives, their sisters, their daughters, their neighbors more in their daily development. African women must learn to take some time for themselves, to have fun and to practice a sports activity or yoga.
Governments should take this issue seriously; because according to the WHO, 66 million women suffer from depression and anxiety disorders on the African continent, and 85% of them do not have access to mental health care.
The entourage of the African woman will have to be more vigilant around her, in order to detect the warning signs early: loss of appetite, bipolarity, sleep disorder, suicidal desires, difficulty concentrating, absenteeism, presenteeism, etc.
We can also note the facilitation of access to psychological health care, which should be done systematically after domestic violence, rape, divorce, difficult childbirth, etc.
Finally, why not arrange maternity leave to allow working African women to be able to rebuild after childbirth? And even to arrange paternity leave so that Pierre La Paix Ndamè can be present with his next new mother? Eh ? Don’t forget that love also plays an extremely important role in stabilizing your mental health…
I attended a webinar on African Women’s Mental Health…
So on the occasion of the International Day of African Women, the Fondation Conseil Jeune organized a webinar on the theme of women’s mental health on our continent.
And I was really, really excited to be a part of it…
I attended a webinar on mental health! According to Blue Mind Foundation, I learned that there are only 11 specialist therapists for 28 million inhabitants here in Cameroon.
I attended a webinar on the African woman! Because we do not realize it, but the women of Cameroon are subject to pressures that are unimaginable, insatiable and at the limit immeasurable.
I attended a webinar on Zoom, but before that I had to download this app first.
Then I learned that here in Africa, mental health remains a taboo that affects approximately 110 million people, 60% of whom are young women under the age of 25. I understood that this was an emergency situation. I realized that most of our women live in an environment of anxiety and repetitive emotional disturbances, and that we must popularize this subject in order to make them less and less vulnerable.
Because yes, the African woman suffers from a real mental health problem.
Ecclesiastes DEUDJUII support the African woman
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