Mental health spillovers and the Millennium Development Goals: The case of perinatal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa

Alexander C Tsai,Mark Tomlinson

doi:10.7189/jogh.01.010302

Abstract

Mental health spillovers and the Millennium Development Goals: The case of perinatal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa

Highlights

Mental health spillovers and the Millennium Development Goals: The case of perinatal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa
In order to concretely illustrate the potential contribution of mental health programming to achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets, we sought to estimate the total burden of poor child health attributable to perinatal depression
The pace of progress toward MDG 4 has stalled in South Africa [39], further underscoring the potential for perinatal depression interventions to contribute toward achieving MDG 4 goals

Summary

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Alexander C., and Mark Tomlinson. 2012. Mental health spillovers and the millennium development goals: the case of perinatal depression in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Gender inequality [15], often manifested starkly as violence against women in low-income countries [16], is commonly conceptualized as a risk factor for poor mental health among women [17]. A substantive portion of the burden of mental disorders in low-income countries is thought to be attributable to many of the failures of human development as targeted through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including poverty, HIV, and gender inequality. Their newborn infants [20,21,22,23]. Among persons living with HIV/AIDS, psychological stress and poor mental health have been associated with reduced adherence to HIV antiretroviral therapy [24] and worsened HIV-related outcomes [25]

ADDRESSING PERINATAL DEPRESSION TO IMPROVE CHILD HEALTH

Findings

Depressed mood

CONCLUSIONS