10 per cent rural population, five per cent from urban clusters suffer from mental health problems

AHMEDABAD: Recently conducted National Mental Health Survey in Gujarat estimated that around 10 per cent population in the rural areas and 5 per cent in the urban clusters suffered from mental health problems.

Within Society, women are at a larger risk of poor mental health than men due to various social factors and other forms of domestic violence – a theme of the International Women’s Day scheduled on March 8. Addressing this burden requires capacity building of the sector including intensive mental health promotion and screening at the community level.

Continuing its momentum to undertake step-wise activities for the development of the mental health sector, Gujarat Institute of Mental Health, with its mandate to reduced manpower gaps in field of mental health, entered into a partnership with Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar a premium institute working in academics and research in various domains of public health. Dr. Ajay Chauhan, State Programme Officer for Mental Health, Gujarat & Superintendent of Hospital for Mental Health, Ahmedabad in his address says “the aim of the state is to create a cadre of community mental health workforce at PHC and CHC level”.

This partnership will have special emphasis to strengthen Mental Health awareness and services at the community level. Some of the key areas to be emphasized are capacity building of the primary health care providers to recognize and address mental health consequences of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and acute and chronic stress in women and to generate evidence on the prevalence and causes of mental health problems in women as well as on the mediating and protective factors in Gujarat.