In South Africa, about 75% of individuals with mental health disorders either do not get the care they need or they receive inferior quality of treatment. The problem is exacerbated by not only the stigma around mental illness but also by South African healthcare failing to invest in solutions. Michelle De Goede, the director at Comcare, a non-profit organisation offering support and accommodation to individuals with mental disorders explains, ‘People with mental illness and psychiatric conditions are stigmatised. There are still myths that they should be locked away in an institution because they are dangerous, that they are criminals, or that every single person with mental illness is a drug user.’ But this should not be the case.
According to the HIV Stigma Index, 7% of HIV-positive women report being victims of forced sterilisation. As well as this, 43% of South Africans who are HIV positive suffer from ‘internalised stigma.’ Allegations of forced sterilisation have been made in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Swaziland – among female HIV-sufferers, disabled and underprivileged women.