Malawi Mental Health Expert Urges Companies to Invest in Employee Well-being
The workshop aimed to increase awareness among various companies and organizations on supporting employee mental health and well-being.
BLANTYRE, Malawi— A leading mental health expert in Malawi is calling on companies to invest more in mental health services and develop workplace policies to support employees' psychological well-being and productivity, writes Steven Godfrey Mkweteza.
Dr. Ndumanene Silungwe, a clinical psychologist at Saint John of God Hospitaller Services, said mental health challenges have increasingly impacted workplaces, undermining employee output.
"Surely, Malawi cannot develop and achieve the vision 2063 if stakeholders continue investing poorly in health sector most especially on mental health services," Silungwe said Thursday at a mental health wellness workshop in Blantyre.
He urged the corporate world to develop specific mental health policies and increase funding for such services.
"For example, we have recently witnessed economic, health and environmental shocks such as devaluations, COVID-19 and cyclone Freddy among others that have affected the mental health of most people," Silungwe said.
"These have in turn, also affected the productivity of many companies as many workers do not work hard since they mostly think about such catastrophes."
Mathews Banda, human resources manager at the Center for Social Concern, Research and Environmental Development, described the workshop as "an eye opener" on addressing workplace mental health issues which are often overlooked.
"Instead most of the companies resort to fire the victims instead of seeking the referrals or reporting to the psychologist for rehabilitation. This affects the productivity as there is no continuity," Banda said.
Silungwe said investing just 1% toward mental health services poses "a huge risk" for stakeholders who want sustainable production and economic development in Malawi.
The workshop aimed to increase awareness among various companies and organizations on supporting employee mental health and well-being.