Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced launching government’s first mental health assistance application Humraaz as well as an integrated helpline on World Health Day. Taking to his official twitter handle, premier said “Citizens’ well-being and especially mental health is paramount for our society’s improvement”.

“We need to remove taboo around mental health,” he added. app will offer psychotherapy, daily-activity monitoring, connection with professionals, chatbots, WhatsApp support and appointment booking. Flyer for initiative also invited psychologists and psychiatrists to register on app and join government’s project. Earlier, President Dr Arif Alvi called for joint efforts by stakeholders, including federal and provincial governments, community and health professionals to work for prevention and treatment of mental health disorders.

He said that it was matter of serious concern that 24 per cent of country’s population was suffering from mental health-related issues, whereas only 500 to 600 mental health professionals were available in country to cater to needs of this population.

He emphasised need for increasing number of mental health professionals, besides strengthening capacity of general health professionals by training them to address challenge of rising mental health disorders. President chaired meeting on mental health through video link.

Published in The Daily National Courier, April, 08 2023

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