Abstract
Mental health services in India are neglected area which needs immediate attention from the government, policymakers, and civil society organizations. Despite, National Mental Health Programme since 1982 and National Rural Health Mission, there has been a very little effort so far to provide mental health services in rural areas. With increase in population, changing life-style, unemployment, lack of social support and increasing insecurity, it is predicted that there would be a substantial increase in the number of people suffering from mental illness in rural areas. Considering the mental health needs of the rural community and the treatment gap, the paper is an attempt to remind and advocate for rural mental health services and suggest a model to reduce the treatment gap.
Highlights
Health is “a state of complete physical, social, and mental well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” [1,2]
The omission of mental health in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) mission document becomes even more serious in the backdrop of the uneven performance of the National Mental Health Program (NMHP, 1982) [9,10,11] and District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) [12] which is operational in only 125 districts out of 626 districts of India
The epidemiological situation and available health service system shows that providing mental health services in rural areas is a challenging task, which needs infrastructural, architectural, and programmatic correction in the existing National Mental Health programme and District Mental Health programme
Summary
Health is “a state of complete physical, social, and mental well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” [1,2]. Our health system is pre-occupied with curative health care services and disease prevention, with little attention on social and mental well being. Silence on mental health services in rural India [7] in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) [8] is a serious matter of concern. The omission of mental health in the NRHM mission document becomes even more serious in the backdrop of the uneven performance of the National Mental Health Program (NMHP, 1982) [9,10,11] and District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) [12] which is operational in only 125 districts out of 626 districts of India. With various flaws and implementation constraints in the NMHP and DMHP [13,14], there has been a very little effort so far to improve the rural mental health services
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