Mental Health and Awareness

  Mental health is a major concern worldwide and India is not far behind in sharing this. If we evaluate developments in the field of mental health, the pace appears to be slow. Dr Brock Chisholm, the first Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in 1954, had presciently declared that “without mental health, there can be no true physical health.”  More than 60 years later, the scenario has not altered substantially. About 14% of the global burden of disease is attributed to neuropsychiatric disorders. The burden of mental disorders is likely to have been underestimated because of an inadequate appreciation of the interplay between mental illness and other health disorders.  There remain considerable issues of priority-setting based on the burden of health problems and of addressing inequalities about determinants and solutions for health problems. Progress in mental health service delivery has been slow in most low- and middle-income countries. Barriers i...