As the world continues (and rightly so) to celebrate women from all walks of life this March and beyond, we wanted to get in touch about this news focusing on celebrating African women and empowering the next generation.
African women across the world are indefatigable leaders, hard-workers and advocates for social justice. However, most often than note, due to lack of time, or the few policies focusing on mental and physical health intervention, they neglect its importance. Many have even used non-specialist health providers in local communities, reducing the cost of care.
Raimah Amevor, founder and CEO of Mindfully African, is changing these working with practitioners, local authorities, African government, diaspora associations and mental health practitioners. Mindfully African, an African for Africans mental health and lifestyle brand, who has built Africa’s first mental health directory, where you can find contact details of qualified counsellors, psychologists and nutritionists that serve the entire Continent. In addition, they have brought together qualified professionals from across Africa to provide women and young women with content catered for them and by them, that they can trust to help take care of one’s mental and physical well-being and reach one’s potential.
As stated by world institutions, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations, mental health interventions also improve the economic circumstances of people and households affected by mental illness. Studies that evaluated the economic impact of these interventions showed how clinical and economic improvements went hand in hand.Thus, more African governments should make mental health a global development priority and positioning women at its centre to lead and advance a nation’s productivity.
Mindfully African is working across Africa, with the aim to strengthen information systems, improve governance and calculate the costs of scaling up integrated packages of care for women. Improving mental health women will help unlocking development potential – a neglected link in the development chain in Africa.
Thus, Raimah believes that it is important to celebrate the amazing work of African women, whilst investing in mental health to promote resilience on the African continent. After all, mental health is both a means to social and economic development, and a worthy goal in itself.
Please see below the video featuring and highlighting the importance and impact of mental health among African women: