In the fight against mental health disorder among children and adults, both the government and non-government initiatives should be directed towards prevention, experts said at a roundtable recently.
They emphasized that the allocation of resources must be directed towards primary health care systems which would enable health professionals to tackle the root causes of mental health disorder which has worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The a2i program under the ICT Division of the Government of Bangladesh organized the roundtable, titled “Positive Pathways of Mental Health and Wellbeing for the SMART Bangladesh 2041”, on October 11 to mark World Mental Health Day.
The roundtable was organized in partnership with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) and USAID. Dhaka Tribune was the strategic partner in this event.
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Dr Khaleda Islam, the former director (Primary Health Care) at Directorate General of Health Services said: “We need to ensure the availability of mental health services and drugs to our primary health care setting.
“It is extremely important that we review the existing essential service package and incorporate mental health in the primary health care setting."
For Alex Ssimbwa, a program delegate at Danish Red Cross in Bangladesh, prioritizing prevention in the fight against mental health issues can help minimize the cost of treatment as well.
“Focusing on prevention can help minimize the risk of mental health issues developing into severe conditions as well as the cost for treatment,” he said in his speech.
“Apart from all other issues, it is very important to focus on prevention. It is necessary to talk about how we as individuals, family and community are able to overcome the mental health related challenges,” Alex added.
The speakers also stressed the importance of awareness campaigns to boost people's understanding regarding mental health conditions as well as to fight social stigma related to it.
“We need to empower our citizens by disseminating knowledge regarding mental health issues and awareness-building,” Dr Aliya Naheed from ICDDR,B said while addressing the panel discussion.
For Kazi Zebunnessa Begum, the additional secretary at Health Services Division, Addressing social stigma and social taboos related to mental health disorder is necessary to fight mental health issues among children and adults.
“Due to social stigma and taboo, mental health issues are very much neglected in the southeast Asian region,” she said.
People must prioritize their mental wellbeing as much as physical wellbeing, she added.
Currently, many non-governmental organizations have been carrying out awareness campaigns around the country in this regard.
Md Rafiqul Islam, deputy secretary general at Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS), said: “The BDRCS has been providing psychological first aid training to our volunteers so that to carry out awareness campaign promoting psychological wellbeing since the Covid-19 pandemic.”
He also pledged the government the organization's full support in raising awareness in this regard.
At beginning of the session, Dr Helal Uddin Ahmed, an associate professor at National Institute of Mental Health, said Covid-19 pandemic exacerbate the already dire situation in terms suicide prevention.
At least 14,000 people committed suicide within 10 months during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic.
Experts in mental health underlined that, in light of the recent increase in the suicide rate among students and adults, actions must be done at the root level to prevent this issue from turning into severe conditions.
“We need to focus on tackling suicidal rate among our young population through prevention as well as continuity of mental healthcare,” Rubina Jahan, the head of Clinical Services at Sajida Foundation, said.
Currently, Bangladesh has only one mental health professional for every 800,000 people, according to a report by the World Health Organization.
State Minister for the ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, who was the chief at the roundtable said the government is striving to deliver mental healthcare to all of Bangladesh's 170 million people by harnessing the power of technology.
The immense power of information technology - including social media, AI and machine learning - would allow Bangladesh to scale solutions to meet society-wide mental healthcare needs, he added.
