MALAWI: Catholic University Express Concern on Covid19 Pandemic Impact on Mental Health

Luke Bisani

The Catholic University of Malawi through the Directorate of Research and Publication on Thursday, organized a Public Lecture on the Impact of Covid-19 on mental health as a way of addressing common disorders among community members of the University.

Speaking after the Public Lecture, the Director of Academic Affairs at the University, Fr. Dr. Wilfred Sumani said Covid-19 has brought about a number of mental health issues in the country hence the decision to have the Public Lecture.

“We are talking about people losing jobs but also students having lost parents and/or family members. I can just give you an example; last semester, we had to administer, several exams. Some students could come for deferred exams because a member of the family has been affected and therefore, we had to formulate special exams,” said Fr. Sumani.

He added that some students are now facing financial shakeups to settle their tuition fees because of the effects of the pandemic, and this is likely to affect their mental health.

Speaking during the Public Lecture, one of Clinical Psychologists in Malawi, Associate Professor Chiwoza Bandawe from Kamuzu College of Health Science (formally known as College of Medicine) said statistics show that, 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder globally, and that, 3 million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol due to mental disorders.

Chiwoza then called for a need to addressing mental health related issues to help solve poor mental health that results in lower educational achievements, substance use and violence in listing some.

He added that, among others, common mental conditions include depression and anxiety disorders. The Associate Professor also mentioned other mental disorders that include; Alcohol Use Disorders and Mental Illness (Schizophrenia).

The Psychologist then bemoaned lack of enough trained medical personnel to assist the Malawi Population with mental health related issues.

Chiwoza disclosed that Malawi has only four trained psychologists who are registered with Medical Council of Malawi against the population that is nearly twenty million hence a need to train more people in the country.

The Catholic University has two Directorates, namely the Directorate of Research and Publication and the Directorate of Quality Assurance that strive in helping the University in being a centre of excellence in holistic education.