World Mental Health Day is an international day that is globally celebrated on 10th October every year since 1992 to raise awareness regarding mental health and to break the social stigma associated with this.

Same as every year, The World Foundation for Mental Health (WFMH) has announced a theme for this year’s event which is, ´Mental Health in an Unequal World’. This year’s theme largely focused on the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The mental well-being of people around the globe has been majorly disrupted during these distressing circumstances. Frontliners, students, people with pre-existing mental health conditions, people living in isolation, people stuck with their abusers, people who lost their loved ones and jobs are particularly affected severely.
Mental health is an essential topic even at the best of times. The unsettling changes of the pandemic have made the necessity of guidance and community support more crucial. This theme aims to create awareness about the factors that contribute to maintaining inequality in mental health treatments locally and globally.

Worldwide, about 75%-95% of people having mental health disorders in low to mid-income countries are unable to access necessary mental health services at all. Access in a high-income country isn’t much better either. The lack of investment in the mental health sector unbalanced the overall health budget and contributes to this treatment access gap. Meanwhile, people continue to suffer from the unmet need for help.

As for Bangladesh, especially among marginalized people, the prevalence of mental disorders is very high, and treatment is severely neglected. Deficiency of public mental health facilities, lack of skilled professionals, social stigmas, insufficient financial resource distribution, poor advocacy, and lack of healthcare expenditure by the government worsen the problem. Lack of awareness, superstitions related to mental disorders, social issues, crimes and violence, social stigmas, in general, discourages the help-seeking approach. Covid-19 havoc has only worsened this situation.
This shouldn’t be allowed to continue anymore and for that, we need to be aware, come together, speak up & address this inequality. So that, everyone can enjoy sound mental health.

For that, effective steps towards mental wellness are vital. Here are few things that can be helpful-
This year’s campaign initiatives:

• WHO’s mental health atlas, a new comprehensive action plan which provides a clear understanding of available necessary resources both on induvial, local, and global scale along with materials that support campaign insights.
• They are also promoting advocacy. Taking care of yourself and extending helps to others. They will release new materials to help people living with depression.
• They plan to add testimonies from people about the effect of the pandemic on their mental health & ways to cope with it on that day.
• They also plan to host live conversations with experts & influencers about their efforts to raise awareness & help people to have conversations which often are the 1st step towards cure.

Few tips for better mental health in 2021:

• Prioritize your basic needs such as eating nutritious food, good sleep, regular physical activities, and maintain a routine.
• Talk to someone.
• Seek help without hesitation when needed.