00:00A new project studying the effects of climate change on mental health has found that droughts and heatwaves are linked to higher levels of suicidal thoughts.
00:10Elizabeth Amina Kadenge is a farmer in Kaloleni, one of the poorest areas of Kenya.
00:16She says the changing climate is a major source of stress.
00:20My maize yield failed this season, unlike cassava, which performed well.
00:25While the loss of maize is already a setback, my bigger concern is the lack of subsistence food.
00:32Maize takes about three months to mature and be ready for harvest.
00:36In contrast, cassava planted today won't be harvested until around this time next year.
00:42This means that during this entire period I will have to spend money to buy food, something I wouldn't need to do if my maize yield had been successful.
00:50It's a serious challenge as I now have to rely on purchases instead of feeding my household from my own harvest.
01:00Scientists behind the project surveyed nearly 15,000 women in rural Kenya.
01:07It's the first time a study of climate anxiety has been done with women in the region.
01:12We have to talk to them, we have to ask them, engage them.
01:18But it was purely a quantitative question that we've asked, you know.
01:21So, do you have any suicidal thoughts or ideation?
01:24If you do, you know, do you have it every day, several days a week?
01:28Do you have it a few times a month?
01:29So it's because of that standard questionnaire.
01:31But then we don't ask them more onto that, you know, about how they did it, why they did it, what made them do that.
01:37So those are not something that asks.
01:39Zul Murali directs the Brain and Mind Institute in Nairobi.
01:44He says there are multiple dimensions to climate change.
01:48If you want resilient communities, you can't not be thinking about mental well-being as well.
01:55So I think that it's a very important component of building resilient communities.
01:59And so I think that there should be more infrastructure to provide mental health support in those communities,
02:07as well as trying to figure out ways of dealing with the shortages that they will experience,
02:14for example, in water supply and things like that.
02:18The project was conducted ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10th.
02:23It's an international day for global mental health education and advocacy.
02:28It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:29It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:30It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:31It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:32It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:33It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:35It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:36It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:37It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:38It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:39It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:40It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:41It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:42It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
02:43It's an international day for global health education.
02:44It's an international day for global health education and advocacy.
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