The Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India recently launched a mobile application to promote the mental wellbeing of the people of India. It is called the MANAS App.
About the MANAS App
- MANAS stands for Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System.
- It is a comprehensive and national digital wellbeing platform.
- The MANAS integrates indigenous tools developed and researched by various national bodies and research institutions.
- The MANAS app was jointly executed by NIMHANS Bengaluru, C-DAC, AFMC. However, it was mainly developed by C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing).
- The app is supported with tele consultation especially for mental health related problems.
- The app was launched during the 34th Foundation celebrations of C-DAC.
COVID-19 and mental health
- The pandemic is increasing mental health problems. According to Practo, an integrated health care company, there has been 665% jump in the number of mental health consultations. Most of them were in the age group of 21 to 40 years.
- In United States, 90% of the survey respondents of Harvard Medical School complained of frustration, worry and anxiety.
- The Global economic cost of mental illness has been estimated as 16 trillion USD in the next twenty years. This is more than the cost estimated for any other non-communicable disease.
- The pandemic increased isolation and loss of income. These were the two main reasons for increased mental problems due to the pandemic.
- Also, COVID-19 has halted mental health care services in 93% of the world.
- According to WHO, the countries are spending less than 2% of health budget on mental health.