New Delhi: The government’s national mental health helpline Tele-MANAS has received 3.4 lakh calls since its launch in October last year with every three out of four callers belonging to the 18-45 age group, official data showed. Of the total 3,46,935 calls that were received, 55.8 per cent were from men while 44.2 per cent from women, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The toll-free helpline received an average of around 2,000 calls in a day and the major reasons for calling were sleep disturbances, sadness of mood, stress related and anxiety in descending order, official sources said.
They said 74.4 per cent of the callers fall in the age group of 18 to 45 years.
At present, 44 Tele MANAS cells are operating through 33 states and Union Territories including Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Ladakh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Assam.
The highest number of calls were handled by the Cell 104 helpline of Chennai’s Institute of Mental Health.
The National Tele Mental Health Programme of India envisions working as a comprehensive, integrated and inclusive 24 x 7 tele-mental health facility in each state and Union Territory in India through 51 functional Tele MANAS cells.
The World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
