Awareness campaign on mental health under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Govt of India’s National Mental Health Programme. Supported by Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), New Delhi

Awareness campaign for mental health 

People have less awareness over mental health and no one understands between mental retardation and mental illness. Mental retardation is by birth normally no medicine or cure for the same and where is mental ill health occurs in the middle of the life due to various reasons like over stress, deep pondering, high tension or any other reasons and it is temporary in nature and medicine is available. Due to lack of this people (care takers) are also neglecting the mental health patients, which increases the stigma and eventually increasing the intensity of the pressure of the patient. With the support of PHFI (Public Health Foundation of India), a pilot awareness campaign was conducted at Vizianagaram district by identifying two places of Bobbili and Cheepurupalli with coverage of 75 children and created awareness and made plat form to ventilate their feelings and posed out their problems and also made convergence with Mental health care hospital, Visakhapatnam to avail the health services.

Major achievements in this project:

• Created awareness among the people (care takers) on mental health or illness.
• Reduced stigma on mental health and its symptoms.
• Training was given to the care takers over the behaviour of the mental illness patients and precautions to be taken.
• Mass awareness was made through IEC materials like pamphlets, banners in the main centers to focus the public attention towards this issue.
• Convergence with medical officers of mental health care hospital, Visakhapatnam.
• Accessed the people to avail the better services within their sphere.