This new Knowledge Summary from The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and partners calls for increased attention to and action on adolescent mental health.
Every adolescent has a right to mental health!
This Knowledge summary draws a correlation between the promotion and protection of mental health and improved quality of life, strengthened human capital and socioeconomic development.
It outlines several actions - policy and investment, responsive systems and services; and capacity building - essential for enabling adolescents to survive and thrive and ensure that no one is left behind!
Reducing alcohol-related harms in South Africa
Alcohol is one of the leading risk factors for death and disability in South Africa. The Western Cape Government aims to change this by focusing on interventions that make a tangible impact on reducing the harms related to alcohol. Since 2016, the Western Cape Government has initiated several GameChanger programmes in three areas in the province, including the Alcohol Harm Reduction GameChanger. Strategies have been implemented to reduce access to alcohol, such as closing down illegal alcohol outlets, installing surveillance cameras and increasing law enforcement presence. The programme also provides recreational and economic alternatives for young people by supporting an existing youth hiphop programme called Nyanga Yethu and establishing an I-Can Play digital gaming centre which is open 24 hours a day. A community evaluation conducted in 2018 showed that close to 75% of those surveyed felt their community was a better and safer place to live than the previous year.