Union Health ministry launches National Mental Health Survey II website

“The Centre for Public Health @NIMHANS hosts “Mental Health Dialogue” on Strengthening Public Mental Health!
For registration kindly scan the QR Code. #MentalHealthMatters #PublicHealth” pic.twitter.com/ujzmVKWlyk

— NIMHANS, Bengaluru (@NIMHANS_BLR) July 26, 2023

The ministry said that preparations for NMHS 2 are underway, with goals to gather essential data for policy and programs, address emerging mental health concerns, and establish comprehensive mechanisms to tackle mental health issues nationwide.

Director, mental health with the union health ministry, Dr Neha Garg said, “There is a great need for a survey. We need to get the data and translate them into policy. We are still referring to the statistics of the first mental health survey. The world is changing rapidly. The survey will help us to identify new areas of challenges. We need to find out how climate change is impacting mental health. It would also let us know about the impact of interventions which the health ministry has made in the last few years with respect to Ayushman Bharat, Tele-Manas among others.”

Epidemiologist, Prof G Gururaj said that during the pandemic people learned to prioritise mental health. “Care for the mentally ill, rehabilitation of people with mental health issues, promotion of mental health and prevention of mental health diseases are the four areas that deserve attention,” he said.

Director, NIMHANS, Pratima Murthy said, “The NMHS has quantified the burden of those suffering from mental, select neurological and substance use problems. NMHS has also undertaken the onerous task of identifying the baseline information for subsequent development of mental health systems across the states. The results from the NMHS point to the huge burden of mental health problems: while nearly 150 million Indians need mental health care services, less than 30 million are seeking care; the mental health systems assessment indicates not just a lack of public health strategy but also several under-performing components.”