President’s mental health programme launched

Zafar Mirza says moulding young age behaviour prevents mental issues

ISLAMABAD: President’s Programme on Mental Health launched on Thursday will bring a major change in the situation of mental and physical health for mother and child.

This was stated by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza while addressing first session of a roundtable on suicide prevention held at Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

“We have to protect our future generations from mental health issues faced by our generation,” SAPM said.

“Depression and drug abuse can be prevented. We need to inculcate behaviour at a young age to prevent our population from falling prey to mental health issues at a later stage in life,” he said in the meeting.

The meeting was attended among other by representatives of the World Health Organization, Ministry of Health, Police Department, Judiciary, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Religious Scholars and Media personnel. All the participants stated their views and the discussion was focused on lack of data of reported suicide cases, awareness-raising, the importance of role of police and judiciary

World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Government of Pakistan celebrates World Mental Health Day on October 10, every year. The theme for this year is “Focus on Suicide prevention” and it has been designated as A Day for “40 Seconds of Action”

Professor Asad Tamizuddin, Head of the Institute of Psychiatry, WHO Collaborating Center for Mental Health Research & Training, on this World Mental Health Day organized a one day ‘Round Table on Suicide Prevention’ in Institute of Psychiatry Benazir Bhutto Hospital on Thursday.

Suicide is a serious public health problem; however, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed

Every year close to 800 000 people take their own life and there are many more people who attempt suicide. Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide occurs throughout the lifespan and was the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds globally in 2016.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2019.