High unemployment and medical inflation prevent South Africa’s young adults from getting the medical help they need. There is a solution.
It’s a venerable cliché that a country’s youth represents its future, but for South Africans, this trite observation is actually a call to urgent action. Our youth face a daunting range of challenges that are effectively preventing them from reaching their full potential. With our collective future at stake, however, we have to focus on solutions.
Luckily, solutions can be found. In particular, digital technologies enable new models that can improve young people’s access to healthcare. One of the massive social goods produced by capitalism is a vibrant medical industry that is producing cures to many of the diseases that limit our lives; one of the equally massive social ills produced by capitalism is that these medical advances are very expensive.
The challenge of the affordability of medical care is particularly acute for South Africa’s youth primarily because so many of them are out of work. Our unemployment figures are dismal and getting worse, but in the youth sector they are apocalyptic: in the first quarter of 2023, youth unemployment reached 46.5%.
At the same time, youth face a number of acute health challenges that desperately require medical intervention. One of the most important is mental health; 73% percent of children and youth felt they required mental health support in 2022, with 38% actively seeking help—this is according to the latest UNICEF South Africa U-Report poll. The South African Stress and Health Study found that approximately 9.8% of South Africans had experienced a major depressive disorder in their lifetime, and 14.2% had experienced an anxiety disorder.
A linked issue is substance abuse. According to the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use, the use of substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and methamphetamine is prevalent among youth, which can contribute to mental health challenges.
Since launching in March 2022, 25% of Kena Health’s consultations have been related to mental health.
Mental health is just one of the pressing health challenges that affect the youth. Others would include sexual health and access to contraception.
However, the most recent health review of South Africa conducted by the Health Systems Trust makes the point that the country’s health system is not structured to meet the needs of young people.
The digital answer
The most convincing answer to the conundrum of youth health is to make better use of digital channels—this is the thinking behind the Kena Health approach, which uses a well-designed app to make quality health care both more affordable and accessible, particularly for young people. It’s an approach that works: over 70% of our patients fall into the youth category.
On the affordability front, the cost of a consultation is only R 185 per consultation with a doctor, nurse, or mental health professional and only R 120 for simple contraception renewal. This is less than a third of what it costs to visit a GP in most SA suburbs.
On the accessibility front, there are two important points to make. Firstly, young Africa is a mobile-first population, so making medical help available via a mobile app makes a lot of sense—it’s a channel they are familiar with, it’s very convenient, and it’s very private. It also saves a lot of the time and money associated with going to doctors’ rooms. Interestingly, half of our consultations use text only, with voice and video calls the next two most popular options.
The second point is that South Africa has a shortage of certain categories of specialists, most notably in mental health. We have a ratio of 1.52 psychiatrists per 100 000 people, mostly located in Gauteng and the Western Cape, compared with 30 per 100 000 in Europe. The end result? Long waiting lists, high prices and lack of access for people outside of the main metros.
Using digital channels overcomes all these issues.
Today’s youth in South Africa face a multitude of serious challenges, but they hold the country’s future in their hands. At least on the health care front, we have a way to make a difference provided we are prepared to do things differently.
BY Dr Chido Siame, Clinical Care Lead at Kena Health.
