Kinkini Gupta
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Written By: Kinkini Gupta | Updated : June 3, 2022 7:01 PM IST
There Are Almost One Billion People Living With Mental Health Conditions
Mental health conditions already represent a significant burden worldwide. There are nearly one billion people living with mental health conditions, yet in low- and middle-income countries, three out of four do not have access to needed services, India, being one of those countries. A 2021 survey by WHO conducted on 95 countries found that only nine have thus far included mental health and psychosocial support in their national health and climate change plans.
Climate change has been reported to have a dreadful impact on people's mental health and well-being. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), recently reported on this saying that the range of threats posed on mental health could be from emotional distress, anxiety, depression, grief to suicidal behavior. The World Health Organization advised countries to make it a priority to tackle the climate crisis.
Dr Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at WHO recently said in a statement, "The impacts of climate change are increasingly part of our daily lives, and there is very little dedicated mental health support available for people and communities dealing with climate-related hazards and long-term risk."
The WHO release a policy brief suggesting some guidelines to address the mental health impacts of climate change:
Roughly 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and 38 million suffer from some anxiety disorder. Although in the year 2022, people have become increasingly conscious of their physical well-being. However, mental health maintenance remains ignored to a great extent in India. The WHO estimated that India's economic loss because of the prevalence of mental health is $1.03 trillion between 2012-2030. This could get worse because of the effect of climate change. Maintaining good overall well-being is still a luxury in a country like India!
