President Calls for Awareness Campaign on Mental Health
by Seemab Chaudhary
SHARES
People of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are in need of psychiatric assistance. In need of mental health awareness, President, Arif Alvi, has called for a well-integrated and effective awareness campaign on mental health in Islamabad. Almost 24 million people in Pakistan are in need of psychiatric assistance.
In the called meeting at Aiwan-e-Sadar, President Arif Alvi shared their views on how to spread awareness on mental health.
The major goal of the meeting is to view the efforts to strengthen existing awareness plans and how they can be augmented through different sources, such as virtual programs, artificial intelligence, Mental Health Chatbots, mobilizing relevant government and other stakeholders, online mental health portals, etc.
President Dr Arif Alvi calls for integrated & effective awareness campaign on mental healthhttps://t.co/R4IIsVdq5F@PresOfPakistan pic.twitter.com/LrFsIYYxz7
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Dr. Irfan Mustafa, Chief Executive Officer of Taskeen Health Initiative, a non-profit organization working for the promotion of well-being and prevention of mental illness in Pakistan expressed to the president about the mental health awareness programs taken by his organization.
President Arif Alvi also discussed the classified forms of mental illness and how they can be managed at early stages and also will be cost-effective if diagnosed at the right time. The most common mental health problems in Pakistan include depression, emotional disorder, bipolar disorder, dementia, schizophrenia, etc. He also shared that women are most affected by mental health issues as compared to men. Further added that Pakistan has only 0.19 psychiatrists per 100,000 people while the affected number of mental health people is almost 24 million.
President also shared that taboos related to mental health should be broken through information to the general public through Ulema and Pesh Imams. They can share Islamic perspectives. The success of multiple campaigns, including breast cancer, COVID-19, and the Polio Campaign along with the First lady Samina Alvi, also aims to spread mental health awareness and for its successful execution.
