Building a Case for Addressing
the Issue of Mental Health in Rural Tamil Nadu
Nicholas De Vito, Amudha Panneerselvam,
Kavya Vaghul,
Juhi Sutaria,
Ravikumar Chockalingam
Introduction
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Nicholas De Vito is an undergraduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, studying Biology & Society with minors in Global Health, Science and Technology Studies, Nutrition and Law & Society. After finishing his undergraduate education Nicholas hopes to pursue a Master’s in Public Health with a focus on health and nutrition policy. His work with ICTPH centered around mental health in developing countries with a special focus on India. Amudha Panneerselvam is doing her Bachelor’s of science degree course in biology from Massachusetts Insitutute of Technology. She has won several awards (National Society for Collegiate scholars, Rensselaer Medal, Bausch and Lomb Award, Women in Engineering award are a few of them). She has also done research in genetics at the Koch Institute for Cancer Research at MIT and at Hybrigene Laboratory (University of Rhode Island). She has also taught a course on Introduction to Biotechnology at Cranston High School West. She is the president of MIT Resonance, a capella group. Kavya Vaghul is a passionate high school senior at the International Community School in Kirkland, Washington, currently pursuing her interests in the field of Medicine and Public Health. While she is thoroughly intrigued by natural sciences, her dedication for learning has nurtured her zeal for the arts and culture as well, showing immense enthusiasm in successfully participating and promoting various activities both locally and internationally. Applying her strong leadership capabilities, she has fostered and shepherded several projects within her school and in her community. With the aspirations of a career in the medical sector, Kavya hopes to diversify her knowledge by volunteering and traveling around the world in different health organizations, as it has given her the inspiration to undertake meaningful work. Juhi Sutaria has completed her M Phil in Development Studies from Cambridge, UK, and an MA in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She has been trained in qualitative social research at both these institutions. She has worked on research projects in the field of reproductive and sexual health in India. Her interests include repoductive and sexual health and education. Ravikumar Chockalingam graduated from Madras Medical College, one of the oldest in India, in 2003. He has five years of post-graduate clinical experience including training in Surgical Laparoscopy and Intervention Gastroenterology in Buffalo, NY. He worked as a Registrar in the Critical Care unit in Apollo Hospitals for a year and a half after which he joined ICTPH as Assistant Vice-President – Human Capacity. Dr. Chockalingam is the founding member of the CHW (Community Health Worker) focus at ICTPH, looking at alternate disease focus areas e.g. mental health, oral health and sexual health. Dr. Chockalingam also played an instrumental role in operationalizing the CHW pilot in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu – from coordinating field teams for mobilizing the CHWs to designing and implementing the in-house three-phase training programs. Dr. Chockalingam is currently pursuing his Masters in Public Health (MPH), at The Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, USA. |
Mental health is “a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community” (WHO 2009). While it may seem like a factor that is often taken for granted, good mental health influences the outcome of an individual’s life. Consequently, a mental illness can not only compromise these indicators of well-being, but it can also jeopardize her or his quality of life. Worldwide, 10% of individuals are living with a mental disorder, and 25% or individuals develop one or more mental or behavioral disorders at some point in their lifetime. Two-thirds of these people never seek help from a health professional due to stigma, discrimination or neglect. However, these individuals may not always have access to the proper resources and facilities. Over 40% of countries do not have a mental health policy, over 30% have no mental health program, and 25% have no mental health legislation (WHO Report 2001).
There are attainable and inexpensive treatments available for many mental illnesses, but they are not being used effectively. Limitations in monetary allocations devoted to mental health care and shortages in psychiatric professionals exist in many developing countries today (Saxena et al. 2007). While many ideas have been offered to resolve this issue, providing community-based health care seems like a promising option. The entire concept of community-based health care focuses on using members from villages or small communities for health purposes. These methods are effective in serving individuals within the community directly. Community-based health care involves diagnosing different diseases, educating and raising awareness about different disorders, and providing supportive counseling to patients and their families. Especially when considering the prevalence of mental disorders within rural communities and the lack of resources provided to these low-income and middle income areas, community health care may prove to be an effective method for providing preventative and primary mental health care (Chatterjee et al. 2008).
This paper will review the current status of mental health care, with a focus on the situation in India and will illustrate the gaps in the system. It will also provide details of the mental health in particular demographic groups in India, and examine successful programs and initiatives that have made an improvement in mental health. Through this, it will attempt to build a case for establishing basic primary facilities for mental health care at the community level, which are currently nonexistent in the Indian health system.
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