State of Mental Health of Students in Universities

Background

The World Health Organization (WHO) (2022) defines mental health as a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well, work well, and contribute to their community. Mental health is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in. Further, it is a basic human right and is crucial to personal, community and socio-economic development. Patel et al. (2018) affirms that mental health exists on a complex continuum with experiences ranging from an optimal state of well-being to debilitating states of great suffering and emotional pain and is therefore not defined by the presence or absence of a mental disorder. Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders and is experienced differently from one person to the next at varying degrees of difficulty and distress (WHO, 2022). Mental health means that one is able to connect, function, cope and thrive in whichever situation or surrounding environment and it is as important as one’s physical health (WHO, 2022). In our context, mental health therefore enables the student to connect with those in their environment, function academically, cope with the ever changing circumstances and thrive holistically as a student.

Despite its importance, it is only of recent that mental health was included in the world’s global agenda. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) omitted mental health, this saw global leaders championing for its inclusion in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 which targets by 2030 to reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases and promote mental health and well-being (Votruba et al., 2016). A study on Global Burden of Disease done in 2013 found that mental and substance use disorders had increased over the preceding 3 years to account for 11% of Daily-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) compared with 7.8% in 2010, and these disorders alone accounted for 21.2% of Years Lived with Disability (YLDs) worldwide. This makes mental illness a major challenge and a key developmental issue for both low, middle and high-income countries (Votruba et al., 2016). The World Mental Health Report by WHO (2022) indicates that mental disorders are the leading cause of years lived with disability, accounting for one in every six YLDs globally. Mental health also enables one to develop relationships, perform activities of daily living and adjust to situations, any impairment and lack of access to appropriate support may result to mental health conditions. The mental health conditions lead to disturbance in thoughts and feelings, changes in behaviours, compromise physical health and disruption of relationships, school drop outs or interference with livelihoods. Studies done in the United States of America (USA), Canada, Australia, Turkey and other countries have shown an increase in issues affecting mental health of students in higher education (Okoro et al., 2022). Mental health of students is a key area of focus for all stakeholders particularly towards identifying risks and appropriate preventive strategies.