CHD Group – a global health organization headquartered in Mangalore has brought out the recent Karnataka Mental Health Report 2019. This report gives a crisp insight into the plight of mental health and provides for
strong recommendations which will help state and non-state actors in shaping the agenda further.
The report sends an alarm bell for districts of Raichur, Bidar, Chikkabalapur, Haveri and Hassan in terms of increased burden of mental health diseases and Haveri and Hassan has a higher suicide rate compared to other districts in the state.
The report is appreciative of the Government of Karnataka’s effort in trying to reach all 30 districts in terms of District Mental Health Plan, but advocates for a strong budgetary allocation in strengthening the space and also in working with non-government organizations to scale out people centric efforts. Among the diseases that surface strongly in Karnataka, there is a higher burden of common mental disorders, severe mental disorders and alcohol abuse with a sizeable percentage of suicides.
In the year 2018-19, 29,005 suicides were reported in the state of Karnataka. Majority of the suicides were reported in Hassan district (25.6%) and Haveri district (18.8%).
Another important finding is that only 0.37% of Karnataka’s budgeted health expenditure was allocated to mental health, of which only 74.4% and 62.4% were utilized by DMHP and Manasadhara respectively. This serves to highlight the need on policy makers going the extra mile in making the right decisions by investing rightly and investing efficiently.
Dr. Edmond Fernandes, CEO, CHD Group says that if the state of Karnataka has to make forward strides in the field and achieve tangible indicators, it becomes exceptionally imminent for them to collaborate and co- operative with Non Government Organizations in the state which are professionally driven to value add, supplement and magnify a slow motion cart-wheel into a dynamo. He recognizes that Karnataka becomes a mentoring state to other states in the country’s overall mental health agenda, yet there is so much to be done and must be driven by collaborative spirits with sufficient financial aid.
The report has been authored by Gautam Satheesh, Edmond Fernandes, Shilpa Karir, Neevan Dsouza and powered by CHD Design Studio.
The full report is available for download on :
https://www.chdefforts.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mental-Health-Report-1.pdf