Context
World Mental Health Day is celebrated on October 10 every year for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma.
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The World Mental Health Day theme for 2022 is "Mental Health in an Unequal World'. It has been officially announced by The World Federation for Mental Health.
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The worsening situation
- Studies from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) indicate that anxiety and depression have been rampant the world over, resulting in a loss of almost 12 billion working days, cumulatively translating to productivity losses of US$ 1 trillion per year approximately as of 2019.
- Per reports from WHO, nearly 15% of working adults globally, were estimated to have a mental disorder in 2019.
- COVID-19 has amplified this number by almost 25%, says their recent scientific brief.
Important Government Initiative for mental health
- National Tele Mental Health Programme: In the Union Budget for the year 2022-2023, the government announced a National Tele Mental Health Programme to improve access to quality mental health counseling and also care services.
- National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in 1982
- Mental Healthcare Act, 2017
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Madhya Pradesh is India’s first State in the country to draft a suicide prevention strategy and the government has formed a task force for it.
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