COVID-19 Mental Health Risks - A Critical Survey of Africa

Abstract

COVID-19 is still being experienced worldwide, with other variants also cropping up, including Delta and Omicron, etc. Many countries are learning to cope with the mental, physical, and economic impacts of this pandemic by applying recommended health or otherwise protocols in their daily undertakings. The research critically surveyed COVID-19 mental health risks in Africa. Its objectives were to determine the extent to which COVID-19, directly and indirectly, affected the mental health of citizens and to estimate the Mental Health risk levels due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa. In doing so, participants in Africa were sent a Google survey form by WhatsApp. and Seventy-two responses were received. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 (DASS-21) was used to measure participants' mental health risk levels of depression, anxiety, and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic periods up to November 7, 2021. The study discovered that over 90 % of individuals had one form of mental health disorder during the pandemic. In addition, many participants experienced severe depression and anxiety resulting in mental health issues such as dysphoria, anhedonia, and inertia that assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects, situational anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect.