told me not to return to syria and start over. they said i wouldn't be able to improve myself, but here i am. any achievement in my country is better than in another country. this is more valuable to me. i hope all those syrians entered kia can return home to better conditions one day, sir, as a position held areas, are also affected by the inflation across the border as they use the turkish currency. and so we're trying to make basie food items available, but 3, make only a small profit because of the changing prices at 12. in a year, the turkish era has lots 40 percent of its value against the u. s. dollar and inflation is expected to remain high in 2023 despite government promises to reduce it, leaving syrians, whether they live as refugees into care or have returned home to our position held areas with limited opportunities. sam, k solo al jazeera stumble. ah,

this is al jazeera and these are the top stories. russia says it will ban oil exports to countries that set price caps on its energy products. the decree will come into effect from february. earlier this month, the european union, g 7 and australia agreed on a cap for russian crude oil as a way of cutting the kremlin revenue streams. the u. s. supreme court has ruled to keep border restrictions that have blocked thousands of migrants from entering the country from the mexico border. the rule known as title 42 was imposed during the cobra 19 pandemic. in 2020, it allowed border officials to rapidly expel migrants caught trying to cross into the u. s. from mexico. our white house correspondent, kimberly how kit is following developments from washington dc. yes, president saying the court is not going to decide on this matter until june. that's typically when the supreme court rulings come out after hearing oral arguments. and the president goes on further to say that title $42.00 must be enforced. in other words, what he's saying is echoing what the white house press secretary is also said in an

official statement from the white house that until then, the white house is going to comply with title 42. at least 64 people have been killed in weather related incidents in north america. as a severe winter storm continues to batter the region. new york state is one of the worst affected areas. president joe biden has approved an emergency declaration to provide federal support. if he open airlines, his announced it will resume commercial flights to mckelly and the northern to gray region. from wednesday, representatives from the ethiopian government visited the rebel held area on monday . was their 1st trip to the region since war broke out 2 years ago. service president has raised the military's combat readiness, which highest level following weeks of escalating tension between serbia and kosovo . serbs and northern cause of or blocking roads in the ethnically divided city of metro visa casa. those leaders are refusing to engage in dialogue until the barricades are removed. taiwan will extend compulsory

military service from 4 months to one year to counter threats from china. on monday, dozens of chinese plains crossed into type his defense zone. the biggest daily incursion in years aging is protesting against what it says is collusion and provocation by the island and the united states. those are the headlines. the news continues here on al jazeera after the stream. thanks for watching. we understand the differences and similarities have cultures across the world. so no matter how you take it out here, we're bringing the news and current affairs committee. you counter 0. ah, welcome to the stream, i'm josh rushing, sitting in for me. okay. the world health organization is leading

a public awareness campaign aimed at tackling high rates of debt by suicide across africa. and it's urgent governments across the continent to do more for people in crisis. so today we ask, why is there a mental health emergency in africa? hey, look, if you're watching this on youtube, seattle box like right there. we have a live stream producer waiting, get your questions and comments to me. so i can get them to our expert turned the show. so let's do this together and it's really important show today i can use your help. but i want to warn you, we're going to be talking about some sensitive issues that include mental health and death by suicide. ah, joining us to discuss the mental health crisis across africa, avi way for non he is a senior officer at united for global mental health. she's in cape town, south africa, laska cosa, is founder at mine lab, africa,

mental health care non profit. she joins us from kampala, uganda, and from jose nigeria, we have ruth tilley kado. she is a journalist and a mental health advocate. alright, avi way, i'd like to begin with you. and so you're sitting in south africa and yeah, 6 of the 10 countries in the world that had the highest suicide rates are in sub saharan africa. but 3 of those countries are actually within the borders of south africa. so i'm just, i want to ask you what's going on there, what's happening with mental health in south africa? so yeah, as you said, we definitely have a mental health crisis in south africa. the biggest challenge is that we have a challenge of avoidance. we don't have the right policies, and there's still quite a lot of stigma when it comes to mental health challenges and mental health as

a whole. and we have 23 suicide deaths in south africa every day. and then $460.00 attempts of suicide deaths in south africa every single day. so at the moment it really is a crisis that we're in and we don't have enough services as a country. there's a 93 percent treatment gap. so it means that the number of people that need access to care and the people that receive care, i'm not enough. we don't have enough services. a mental health policy lapsed in 2020 and it has not yet been updated. many of the mental health service workers are not trained enough to serve the people that are in their communities. and so that really leaves us in a space where we are constantly being reactive to the mental health crisis. and not necessarily being preventative towards positive mental health. well, the u. n. is trying to do this campaign. i want to bring her doctor joseph. uh

boring is the director for program management. that the who, here's what he has to say about this. the lives of people needing care do not have access to service, use with encrypted conditions, leading to staggering to bus fish and such a disability substance abuse and even suicide. android and africa therapy comes john as the highest 3 top suicide globally, iran 11 out of 100000 people die by suicide every year. and it is above global average of 9, a 100000 people. so liz is talking about the suicide rights there and added to me, suicides in this issue, are the canary in the coal mine. but they're also kind of the tip of the iceberg of a mental health crisis. i don't know if we need to focus as much necessarily on

suicide as why those numbers are so high and that's kind of the broader mental health crisis. now you're in, you god, you're joining us in the middle of a power outage. as i write in uganda, you got about a one, a 1000000 chat in the air of kampala. so you, i think we have a delay that that's okay. i'll be patient as my question, but in uganda you have a one and 1000000 chance of meeting a psychiatrist, meaning for every 1000000 people that live there, you have one psychiatrist, but as a, as you're in a power outage right now, how does the country, i guess trias, what they need to address here. do they address, getting you more steady electricity, or do they address? getting more psychiatrist. thank you for your question. you know, very tricky question, but of course would be to get more electricity rate we've not, but it's

a point where we take mental health very, very seriously. like that. population of 4546000000. definitely one psychiatrist. yes. and it's very disheartening. you know, we couldn't go, we couldn't blame all of our africa, mental health trying to do it. we can say, oh, there's a lack of awareness live, but there are people doing that, that work, right? that's what we do. that's what i really does rate, but we have, we have a policy that we haven't access gap, right? so it's not just enough to say it is nor when it or to blame it on stigma. but we need to ask ourselves at that particular question where, what are we doing to address it? what action are we taking to address the mental health crisis and i'll tell you for free, we aren't doing enough. okay, just by me diverse, i'm coming to you. i'm coming to you and you're here in my area. actually want to

set you up with a bit of a package from out to 0 reporter mohammed address. he did this, he was showing kind of children who have been in boca rom camps and they're receiving this kind of psychological support. after the camps, it was run this clip born and raised in brook where i'm camps these children are experiencing for the 1st time. what it means to be a child. oh, they're part of the 6000 victims and family members of bull caught on fighters who send it to nigerians to georgia forces in the past few months. after a few weeks of psychological support. those helping them are surprised by the rapid trustful mission. they see you see a lot of them coming into desert space looking very distress team can hungry what i thought we sort of engagement. oh, because me and give them a call. 31. sometimes depending on how we see the availability and all of that, so we offer the engagement, you see a lot of changes,

you see them interacting before you see them taking leadership role to see them doing for martha. so ruth, watching this clip, it seems kind of promising actually it seems, is there a lot of children who are getting the psychological support that they might need? is that common in nigeria? is that, is that the situation there where you are? ok, thank you very much. just thank you for having me on the show. so like lee said, well, also jerry at the challenge is not necessarily that we don't have the or there was a lack of awareness that challenge mostly is the fact that we have a silent culture, a culture where something's just the capital you can talk about. and so what kind of video, you know, it is really hopeful, i'm excited to see because nigeria and know they know that you know, this young people need this interventions. it will people who are just kidnapped by

vocal her, or bandy, we need these interventions because when they come back into the society, i tell you not to think people, not the same. people are all who come back into society. and it's difficult for them to acclimatize, so they also need this psychological health intervention is such a way that you know, they can come back and be normal people because what they see in those bushes is know what normal people should go through. and so, yes, there is a lot of intervention now. there is a lot of when that's the challenge is the idea of the silent cultural where, you know, we don't want to talk about mental issues. nobody wants to identify as having mental issues. if you're hitting a chord for listening because and you're gone to the word suicide, right? i guess the word suicide itself is terrible. yeah. and the act of it, it's actually get criminalized. i don't even understand how that plays out yet. you touch on the yes. so yes, suicide is criminalized, it's, it's, it's, i know,

friends i'm, and it never made sense to me because what do you do when someone dies from? so if i, you know, do you try and do, what do you charge them with it never made sense to me. and this is, i was actually one of the issues that were highlighted during while suicide prevention day last month. and so yes, there is still a lot of sticking around the web suicide. it's not easy to say is speak about in public. i mean as a, so it's a, it's a part of my story that i often omit when i am doing my work around awareness and advocacy work around around mental health. so we are, we also living in sort of a, you know, silent culture. it's very taboo. even from you know, a cultural perspective, if someone died from suicide, they don't receive

a proper burial over the past year. i know people close to me that have died from suicide or, you know, loved ones of people close to me. and that has been that, that instant that has been the situation, right? so i still need, we have a very long way to go or go in terms of getting people to, or of addressing. and, you know, understanding this over addressing the stigma around suicide. and i keep saying it is our inability to talk about suicide that in the longer and cause is more suicides rate or are you tube audience? and let me tell you something. if you don't know much about the world, you 2 comments, it's not a place where there's a lot of gratitude and positivity, but we actually are getting a lot of gratitude for talking about this today. so maybe people are tired of it being taboo and other let me throw a couple of comments, were actually getting on twitter and from you tube here. this is from someone in

the real ship banassi tr viddy. they say the stigma surrounding mental illness in africa is so bad is now become denial. it's easy to jump to conclusions such as witchcraft. people replace prescription were prayer when things turn to war. they say god's will. he goes on to say, a priest, a pastor, a shake, a clan elder is more trusted than a medical doctor or psychiatrist, a patient refusing prescription from a doctor in favor of rituals. pisses me off because it's suicide based this business in which integrity is obsolete. sad individuals are unaware. wow, he had a lot to say, but audio can you pick up on that? oh yeah, definitely. it's something that i think in every african culture, regardless of where you are, it's the same thing. culture and religion are imbedded in african just to everyday life of africans and with mental health. i think what, exasperation crisis, apart from the silent culture is that immediately when people are showing signs off

going into a depressive episode, or if they communicate even feeling suicidal. immediately there really gave it to the background. they told that they need to half an up culturally they told, i know in south africa it's usually associated with an ancestral calling. so what people call plaza and you're meant to go and go into initiation for true being a traditional healer. or if you need to go for prayer, so all these different elements of what it is in terms of african culture to be viewed as experiencing a mental illness. but again, as often opportunity. i think with all of that there's always an opportunity. so now it's coming back to how do we actually look at the different systems and societies were functioning in and actually develop programs that work. so integrating more community based services. it's something that i advocates for

locked an african society because sitting across a psychiatrist suicide, how to just immediately the world, the app. there is a level of guardedness. there's a level of holding back and, and already there's just so much taboos 15 within a person. and i think if we bring in elements of community, because community, something that is so important to africans, that in actually when we integrate mental health services, it's important for us to also remember what is culturally appropriate. what can work for people that are operating in the societies and they can just adam the element of mental while be know we have, if i may just jump in. okay, so if i, hey, you know, my great aunt actually committed suicide. so i'm married now, but if my husband's family knew that so money, my lineage had committed suicide, they would not touch me within long spawn. and that is amazing because i just got to know there's like 3 years ago,

i was stuck into my mom. i don't know if she intended to tell me and you know, she just put it out there and i'm like, what, wait, what did you say? and, you know, she goes on and tells me the story. but then now i'm happy that you know, several years down the line, we can sit down and talk about this so that people know that even if someone in your family has committed suicide or someone, you know, a loved one has committed suicide. the stigmatization has to stop, because if we don't stop this stigmatization, then people will not be willing to come out and talk about the a mental health situation. you know, like you sat, joshua alia there, we're a lot that leads to suicide. given us nicholas trauma, trauma could build up, i'm going to depression and but here even asked me to us trauma, we don't pay attention to we someone says, i'm trauma. nice. and everyone laughed, and he's like, really traumatized dramatize because of was, you know, so these are some discussions that we need to, you know, talk about more openly, sort of people know that didn't need to get help when be

a feeling mentally pressed. you know, ruth, i wonder if we didn't do you a bit of a disservice by showing that clip from boca harass with the children because they represent a very extreme example. i think most people would agree might me some psychological help, but really the problems much more broad is much more ubiquitous and is much more common than someone who's been something as extreme as growing up in a book or her arm camp. right. i mean, it's like we all deal with it. right? yes, we do. absolutely. and i would say that in a geri air, for in lot of hours it, it, we don't necessarily have to be in the book of her. i'm come to feel the pressure. because with every thing going around, we feel like so many things and not work in. so we almost feel like everyone is sort of like india, you know, vocal, her, i'm calm sort of way because we are so mentally pressure you're, you're trying to get just the littlest thing to work like does good health services

care. you can afford that, you know, bored, non people can afford food. so that was a lot of pressure on people. so these are the things that, you know, cumulate into along, you know, so side and, you know, the bigger things that we're talking about now. but they're reese in nigeria, they're really a lot of mental pressure. and like, you know what, over it affects the men more than the women because most men don't like to talk about their mental issues, you know, lower rate. right. and why did you said that? because we actually have a we can come back, i know you had more to say there, but we have a video comment from someone in the stream community. they sent us into us. the name is eddie kamani. they're about as far away in the cotton as i get from you there and kenya on the other side. and he is a mental health awareness advocate here. check this up. but she's the best possible mental health. i wish to share my pass. my journey have learned that you cannot ignore you wash hands over manian 40th class on this off. as for africa and mental

health, i believe that governments and institutions and walks places should fund more mental health programs. the solution lies in integrating mental health within the overall health care system and work stresses. and as africans, as individuals, out like us to suit mental health. move from just being a conversation to action, where we can start doing things and embracing our wellness and fighting the stigma that surrounds mental health. so right, there's a man talking about the stigma and talking about his own mental health journey. what do you think about that and africa? man, i know that he's very impressive. very, very impressive. i call an old man, especially those in my area. when you have issues, you know what happens back home. when most men have mental health issues be the result of drinking. they become a colleague. that's the way they take out their mental health issues. they just drink this to paul and come back home and sleep all come back home. you know,

in both get involved in what devices of domestic violence and things like that. that is what they do. so if i'm africa, i'm not going to talk about it. i think that now is the time for all men to come up and say, look, i am depressed, i have heart issues, maybe you my heart fragile here on day i am utterly depressed. and i need to know now is the time to talk about this because it is only a healthy person that can be helpful to see that a kamani they're saying in your praises here on the stream lesson. was that josh? yeah, yeah, go for it. why go for it? and so with what, just going back to the bulk of her, i'm camp and wax, and ruth had mentioned. so there's something called toxic stress. if you're constantly exposed, am to stressful situation adverse experiences that actually increases your threshold of experiencing what we call toxic stress. that means that in the long term that increases your risk of mental illness increases the chances of

suicidality increases. chances of anxiety am at risk behavior. so with all of that, it means that the preventative mental health measures are very important. yes, it's important for us to treat mental illness and also provide safe spaces for when people are suicidal. but i really believe from a young age that we need to put in preventative, mental health measures. in other words, we teach people how to find safe spaces and communicate their feelings. teach people how to be able to become self resilient, how to calm themselves down. i know right now self, kay is like the buzzword, but at the end of the day, that is a part of being mentally well. and the reality is we all have mental health. it's not just mental illness, but mental health as a whole, as a spectrum. so every one of us sitting here have mental health that how do we maintain positive mental health? how do we take care about minutes or half? it's like brushing your teeth every day. do something every day that contributes

towards a positive mental well b. mirsky. pick up on her i'm yes, i'll just quickly go back to what ruth shared about, you know, addressing men's mental health. so what we've noticed, what we've observed over the years, is generally in the health care system. women have better health seeking behavior and men. so even if it was something like a cold or during coldly, that woman is more likely to seek out. i treatment and health health care. yeah, treatment of some kind am, which isn't the same for men. however, addressing mental health and mental health challenges amongst men, what we've discovered, what we've seen locally is it's important for us to consider rich reaching men where they are. yes they have, they, they suffer more from, you know, they suffer more from depression, suicide rates are high among men. so they are the most ball. there are bull when he comes to these conversation. sions, but help them. how do we ensure that, you know,

they have this covers, you're breaking up. no worse. he wanted me. it had no way to find them. oh there says ruth, one of the things i read was that there we look at the suicide numbers, but they were present. a successful suicide temple represents one and 20 of people who actually attempted it, meaning the problem is much to have 20 times larger than what the actual numbers say. can we use the last few minutes of the show here? if everyone has some tips on what you would advise people to do, who might find themselves in the mental health crisis route the, do you have some tough like that that, that the you could share? yes, i think the 1st one would be, i think, your josha da, sorry. i think the 1st step would be that b r, where then there ries and mental health be our way. you must be aware, you know, we're very easy to seek health when we have like a headache. we have malaria back in west africa and people just go to the hospital

. so when you have you filled out mental pressure, it could be as little as just feeling traumatized about something or just feeling depressed about some issues. please go and seek help, don't wait until it becomes b. so be a way to be very aware that there was something called mental health and a good affect your project cbc are listed on doing it. so it says, be aware and seek health was, do you, do you have some tips for people in there? are people in our youtube right now talking about their challenges i what i would say is, and it's okay not to be okay. and it's the act that acknowledgement, preston, 1st of all that eventually leads you to adam, will lead you to, to, to seek the support that she'd need. so it's important to be mindful and say it's okay, it's okay not to be okay. the same well have a headache or lou is the same way i, i, you'd need to address, you know, whatever mental health challenge are going through at the time. i'm all the way.

what are you got force just to follow on the ladies again, i didn't find your feelings is very important, but also reaching out to 24 hours suicide help lines. i know they are quite a few in africa here in south africa, we have the south african depression, and anxiety group is a 24 hour helpline in terms of suicide. and you can call them and speak to someone . it's an anonymous line. and then also reaching out to community groups that work with people that are meeting mental health services. so really just taking those steps, even gentle steps of speaking to someone that you trust. yeah. and that, that is my, my main encouragement. all right, so that's i think that's where we're going to end it today. i want to take all 3 of my guest arby way liz. ruth, for be more to come on and talk about something that is taboo. but it's even more important. and if you're out there and you need help, i promise there are people that want to help you. there are crisis lines that you

can get to. so that's all we have time for today. but you can always find us online at stream. got al jazeera dot com take care of yourself, right. thanks for watching. ah. in depth analysis of the days headlines from around the world, whatever the deed was offered to them, they have to sign. because if they didn't, they wouldn't get in frank assessments. do you think diplomacy still spends a chance?

i'm not very up to about any kind of negotiation informed opinions. everybody tweets. everybody's on tick, tock, tick, tock doesn't vote. you have a winter, it's going to have a whole there pretty soon. inside story on al jazeera, the wind blows the fishing boat, as it has for the countless centuries. people have lived here, these malagasy migrants, they move from the drought written self in such a means to survive. and as story is the interface between climate change and biodiversity laws, the arrival of the migrants is adding to the pressure on fish docs. i'm marine by diversity already stretched by over fishing, and this is going to happen all over the world is impacts like sea level rise, goes people to move further and further in learn, putting more pressure on environmental resources for people fleeing the impacts of global warming. it's survival at all costs the american people with focus. but what

exactly did they say? is the world looking for a whole new order with less america in it? is the woke agenda on the decline in america. how much is social media companies know about you? and how easy is it to manipulate the quizzical look us politics? the bottom line i have is on july last lacking in asia, africa that'd be day is where i'd be choosing and editing my own stories in a refugee camp with. and right now we're confronting some of the greatest challenges that humanity has ever faith. and i really believe that the only way we can do that is with compassion and generosity and compromise. because that's the only way we can try to solve any of the problem is together. that's why they're so important. we make those connections ah.