No health without mental health

Urban living is on a continuous rise, fast-paced life, competitive environment and stressful lifestyle have given rise to many mental health disorders in one way or the other. There are thousands other reasons for the same, but the recent shift of lifestyle trends has become one of the leading causes of the mental health illnesses.

Every year, October 10 is observed as World Mental Health day.  This year WHO’s theme for the day is "Dignity in mental health". WHO is raising awareness worldwide of what can be done to ensure a dignified and healthy life for people suffering from mental illness.

Mental health disorders are on high not just in India but in many parts of the globe. Talking specifically of India, experts say that it is set to become the suicide capital of the world with 90 percent of the deaths caused due to one or the other depressive symptom, which is the biggest form of mental disorder. Patients, especially the youth, rely heavily on anti-depression pills and different physical and psychological therapies.

People having mental illness also suffer a lot from strong social stigma. This is basically because society has made stereotyped views about such disorders and they, largely thinks people suffering from mental illness are not normal human beings and they can affect their lives as well. This discrimination at every step further worsens the health of patient or delays their recovery.

WHO fact sheet says that for every lakh people in India, the average suicide rate is 10.9. Moreover, there is just one psychiatrist for every four lakh Indians. Depression is the most prevalent form of mental illness, estimated to exist in 3 of every 100 in urban areas like Mumbai and out of this, 1 in 3 is severely neurotic. Alzheimer’s disease was the most common of severe disorders (54%) followed by vascular dementia (39%). According to the government's estimates about 1 in 5 people in the country need counselling, either psychological or psychiatric.

There are certain ways by which we can promote mental health that includes-

• Early childhood interventions (e.g. home visits for pregnant women, pre-school psycho-social activities,  combined nutritional and psycho-social help for disadvantaged populations)
• Support to children (Skill building programmes, child and youth development programmes)
• Socio-economic empowerment of women (Improving access to education and microcredit schemes
• Social support for elderly populations (Befriending initiatives, community and day centres for the aged)
• Programmes targeted at vulnerable groups, including minorities, indigenous people, migrants and people   affected by conflicts and disasters
• Mental health promotional activities in schools (Programmes supporting ecological changes in schools and child-friendly schools)
• Violence prevention programmes (By reducing availability of alcohol and access to arms)
• Community development programmes
•  Poverty reduction and social protection for the poor
• Anti-discrimination laws and campaigns and promotion of the rights, opportunities and care of individuals with mental disorders.

In 2013, the World Health Assembly approved a "Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan for 2013-2020". The Plan is a commitment by all WHO’s Member States to take specific actions to improve mental health and to contribute to the attainment of a set of global targets.

There are ways to deal with mental problems. Apart from the social structure support and other measures discussed above, there is a quick need of mental health policy to address the issue as soon as possible.

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Quit smoking before smoking quits you!

Every one of us has a right to breathe in fresh air, but unfortunately, times are such that smoking, today has become more of a fashion than an addiction. Even though it kills millions of people everywhere, but this prestigious habit is rising among men and women. Smoke seems everywhere and as a result of which, Tobacco is becoming a universal hazard as well as an epidemic.

According to WHO, use of tobacco kills 6 million people each year, and this could reach to 8 million by 2030 if the global epidemic is left unchecked. 

A silent killer

Continuous use of tobacco affects the body both internally and externally. Some of the effects of occur after one has started smoking while others occur in the long-term life of the smoker. Amongst young people who engage in smoking at an early age it leads to addiction. As a result of the same, most young people continue to use tobacco that eventually lowers the functioning of lung and its growth rate. In adults, it causes heart disease such as heart attack and stroke. 

Scientists suggest that someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes each day lives less than 7 years of his life expectancy and to the early smokers it increase the risk of lung cancer infection.

The Economic and Health Benefits of Tobacco Taxation, produced by the Tobacco Free Initiative of the World Health Organization and the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, highlights the importance of tobacco control in the post-2015 development agenda, and the potential for higher taxes on tobacco products to act as a large funding source for governments.

India’s Scenario

In India, The National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC) at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) is responsible for overall policy formulation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the different activities envisaged under the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP)

India became party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005. Despite having signed up a global treaty, we are still failing to control and implement numerous anti-tobacco laws.

According to a report by International Tobacco Control Project (ITCP), India currently has more than 250 million tobacco users.

The way forward

• Existing laws and regulations needs to be strengthened.
• Raise taxes on all tobacco products to increase prices and generate revenue for tobacco control.
• Spend the additional revenue on social sector initiatives benefiting the poor and on strengthening tobacco control programmes.
• Mobilize the people through mass education and community empowerment.
• Need to impose a strict ban on oral tobacco products such as gutka.

An unprecedented increase in the smoking users worldwide needs an urgent attention. Therefore, it is high time that every government takes a step forward to implement strict laws in order to ban smoking.

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India achieves another milestone, deworms 50% school children

India has achieved yet another milestone in the health system by successfully treating over 50 per cent of all school children at risks of worms. WHO had set the global target on deworming and India achieved it within eight months. The next target of WHO is the coverage of 75 per cent of all school goers at risk by 2022. 

Following the guidelines, the government had launched the first National Deworming Day on February 10 this year, a massive school-based deworming effort in twelve states. This initiative was focused on reducing the threat of parasitic worm infections which has become a worldwide health issue affecting over 241 million children in India alone. Along with government’s initiatives, some non-governmental organisations like Evidence Action also joined in to treat initial 140 million children in schools and pre-schools. It was later stretched to 155 million children. Based on this preliminary report, Department of Neglected Diseases of WHO has confirmed deworming coverage of 50 percent school children has been reached successfully.

According to a report 'Children in India', published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in the year 2012,  over 48% of children under the age of 5 years are stunted and 19.8% are wasted, indicating that half of the country's children are malnourished. Further, India has the highest burden of soil-transmitted helminths in the world. These parasitic worms are the main causes of anaemia and malnourishment among children and they also interfere with children’s nutrient uptake.

The first phase of the programme was launched in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. The government launched deworming programmes to treat children having highest risks for parasitic worms. Within eight months, India victoriously managed to meet the set target. India is now set to reach the WHO’s next target of treating 75 pc of school age population of worms.

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