Reducing the Burden of Mental Illness: A perspective from India

Venue: Seminar Room, Australia India Institute, The University of Melbourne

Presenters: Dr Rajesh Sagar

The global burden of mental illness is on sharp increase. More than 13% of the global burden of disease is due to neuropsychiatric disorders out of which three-quarters lies in low and middle income countries. Particularly in India, a significant number of the population has some form of serious untreated mental disorders. Such a gap is evident across other domains of services, being it treatment, resources, inequitable distribution of resources or budget allocation. Approximately 90% of global mental health resources are located only in high-income countries (WHO, 2005) and a huge gap exists. However, WHO has taken tremendous efforts towards bridging the mental health gap through implementing the “Action”, “Intervention” program and “Mental Health Action Plan” (2013-2020) aimed at scaling up mental health services in low and middle income countries. The steps taken by Indian government is also worth highlighting. With the formulation of “Mental Health Policy of India”, “National Mental Health program”, “District Mental Health Program” and proposed legislation “Mental Health Care Bill” are few significant efforts which have been taken to reduce distress, disability and to strengthen the leadership in the mental health sector at the national, state, and district levels. There have been important initiatives with regard to training and building the capacity for managing mental disorders such as conducting the Training of Trainers (ToTs) for medical doctors. Thus, it is clear that there have been rising efforts and promising measure taken globally as well indigenously to work towards bridging the gap effectively.

Dr. Rajesh Sagar is Professor, Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

from
https://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/6604-reducing-the-burden-of-mental-illness-a-perspective-from-india