By Benedicto Maguda

Blantyre, November 11, Mana: Millennium University over the weekend held a two-day Youth Mental Festival at the Blantyre Youth Centre with the aim of bringing the youth together to celebrate life, community, connection and bring positive change through good mental health.

Drug Fight Malawi Executive Directory, who was guest of honour at the event, Nelson Zakeyu, advised youth in the country to avoid using drugs and substances as one way of keeping their body health and fit.

“Nowadays, we have noted that many youths in the country especially those at university and in colleges are using drugs and marijuana. For this reason, many youths are falling into the trap of mental illness,” he said.

Zakeyu added that drug and substance abuse like marijuana leads to problems such as hypertension, lack of physical coordination and depression.

“In marijuana there is a substance called THC whereby once someone has smoked it the ingredients remain in the body for some time resulting in serious health problems,” he said.

He said marijuana is hazardous to the health of a person because it contains 50 to 70 percent or more cancer causing substances.

A mental health clinician from Zomba Mental Hospital, Harry Kawiya, said recent research on mental issues shows that out of 10 people four go to the hospital for fake disease but in real sense they are suffering from mental illness of which sometimes they don’t receive the necessary attention due to lack of resources.

“In the health sector, we have some problems that are making it difficult to deal with mental health issues. For example, we only have two hospitals that deal with mental health issues which are Zomba Mental Hospital and St. John of God both of which require support,” he said.

Senior Lecturer at Millennium University, Dr. Sandra Jumbe, who is also a health psychologist, was impressed with the turn out because a large number of youths attended the festival.

“This festival has shown us that even in darkness there is hope, we will keep shedding light on mental health issues, fostering empathy and celebrating the strength of our youth,” she said, pledging to make the festival an annual event.

The festival was characterized by different activities such as career development talk, music performance by Piksy, football and netball.