Mental health day: 24×7 helpline launched for counselling services.

October 11, 2022

The World Health Organisation recognises World Mental Health Day on 10 October every year.
The theme of 2022’s World Mental Health Day, set by the World Federation for Mental Health, is ‘Make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority‘.
With the mental health treatment gap across 11 South East Asian nations, including India, estimated at 70 to 95 per cent, the government launched a toll-free, 24×7 helpline to cater to the rising demand for counselling services and guidance.
The helpline number 14416 has been set up across the country and will allow callers to select the language of choice. The service, also accessible with 1-800-91-4416, launched at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, under the Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS) initiative of the Ministry of Health.
The launch coincided with WHO urging member states in the South-East Asia region to intensify action to ensure access for all to quality mental healthcare, in line with the recently adopted Paro Declaration on universal access to people-centred mental healthcare and services.
Globally, before the Covid pandemic, around one in eight people lived with a mental health condition. Gaps in treatment were unacceptably large, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
“In South-East Asia, an estimated one in seven people lived with a mental health condition, and in countries where data are available, the treatment gap ranged from 70–95 per cent. The Covid crisis has impacted almost all areas of health, but a few as profoundly as mental health,” WHO SEARO Regional Director Poonam Khetarpal Singh said.
She said in 2020, cases of major depressive disorder were estimated to have increased by more than 27 per cent globally, and cases of anxiety disorders by more than 25 per cent. “In many countries, this occurred alongside widespread disruptions to mental health services.
Between November and December 2021, more than 33 per cent of WHO member states globally reported ongoing disruptions to mental, neurological and substance use services.