[1] Each country in Southeast Africa is consistently confronted with barriers that make mental health policies a challenge to implement, including the lack of policy, social and cultural barriers, the role of traditional medicine, HIV/AIDS, and the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
"[2] Although there is a lack of attention to mental health in the healthcare systems, it is a major issue in Southeast African countries.
[6] In a CNN series, African Voices, leading psychiatrist Frank Njenga, states that when a patient has some form of illness such as depression or schizophrenia, community members and traditional healers often look at it as being possessed by demons or witchcraft.
These include psychosocial and socioeconomic stressors[8] such as political unrest, violence, poverty, migration, family conflict and any kind of addiction.
[9] In Southeast Africa many people have developed post-traumatic stress disorder relating to genocide, civil war, tribal clashes, and refugee situations, poverty.
[10] Particularly in Rwanda and Uganda, post-traumatic stress disorder affects a significant number of the population, due to recent conflict, genocide, and crimes against humanity.