Editorial . . . . . . .
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rise in youth suicides in India during the past two years. It takes a multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder strategy to direct attention toward a more holistic model of care and support since the mounting pressures on mental health are crippling. To address this, decision-makers, specialists, and those who have personally experienced it have collaborated to identify the gaps in India’s mental healthcare system and how the current institutions can be changed to fill them. At the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in October of this year in Brussels, the Policymaker’s Forum for Mental Health, India, organized a panel discussion to explore the issues surrounding mental health, particularly how they affect India’s most vulnerable citizens. In order to support the introduction of a brand-new, ground-breaking mental project targeted at young people, the debate was held in collaboration with Grand Challenges Canada and ETI Services. The various dimensions of this societal ill were discussed by experts, who concluded that a radical paradigm shift in existential biomedical approach, comprehensive and practical government strategies, vibrant health literacy, engaged media, and local communities, in collaboration with local governments and civil society, responsive corporate sector, and innovative technologies, in addition to targeted interventions for the most vulnerable, were all urgently needed. In addition to raising the level of dialogue and knowledge, aggressive advocacy by policymakers and elected officials supported by strong political will plays a crucial role in fostering inter-sectorial coordination and synergy amongst various stakeholders. It was also emphasized that women and young girls bear a disproportionate share of the burden of mental health difficulties. For the female population, there are serious accessibility issues that affect the entire healthcare process, from diagnosis to treatment. This is made worse by the informational disparity, which women are more likely to experience because they still face barriers to education and representation in the most important areas of providing public services. We can envision a structural change in the future if the current institutions are reinforced and expanded to include mental health care. Policy around mental health must be urgently reconsidered in light of the fact that “family troubles” and “sickness,” rather than unemployment or economic turmoil, are the primary causes of suicide in the population between the ages of 18 and 30. India has a cultural view of suicide. The popular media controls the language surrounding the stigma connected with suicide, which most frequently results in underreporting. The Mental Healthcare Act, which came into effect in 2017, marked a turning point in the history of mental health services in India because of its very progressive nature. In addition to decriminalizing suicide and outlawing electroconvulsive therapy, the act’s provisions for confidentiality, high-quality care, and rehabilitation make it possible for it to set a precedent for other countries. But much work still needs to be done. While the conventional approaches of promotion, prevention, and early detection can aid in containing the impending pandemic of mental health concerns, it is also crucial to have ongoing conversations about mental health with all stakeholders. Medical professionals, public servants, pressure groups, media outlets, schools, parents, and even teenagers themselves will be needed to help with this.