GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday of a rapid increase in the incidence of anxiety and sadness due to the Covid-19 epidemic, which is being exacerbated mostly by social isolation, according to Xinhua.
Young people and women are disproportionately affected.
According to a WHO scientific brief, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression climbed by a staggering 25% in the first year of the epidemic.
Ninety percent of the countries examined incorporated mental health and psychosocial support in their Covid-19 response plans, however there are significant gaps and concerns.
According to the WHO, the pandemic’s social isolation has resulted in unprecedented stress.
This hampered people’s capacity to work, seek help from loved ones, and participate in their communities. Exhaustion has been identified as a primary factor for suicidal ideation among health care professionals.
“The information we have now about the impact of Covid-19 on the world’s mental health is just the tip of the iceberg,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “This is a wake-up call to all countries to pay more attention to mental health and do a better job of supporting their populations’ mental health.”
According to the WHO brief, young people whose mental health has been impacted by Covid-19 are disproportionately at risk of suicidal and self-harming behaviour. Women have been hit harder than men, and persons who have pre-existing physical health concerns like asthma, cancer, or heart disease are more prone to develop symptoms of mental illnesses when infected with Covid-19.
The pandemic has badly impacted mental health systems around the world, creating large gaps in care for those who require it the most. Though the situation had improved significantly by the end of 2021, far too many people are still unable to receive the attention and support they require for both pre-existing and newly formed mental health disorders.
According to a recent WHO survey, 90% of nations are working to provide mental health and psychosocial support to both Covid-19 patients and responders, but there is still a chronic global deficit of mental health resources.
According to the World Health Organization’s most current “Mental Health Atlas,” governments worldwide spent just over 2% of their health budgets on mental health in 2020, and several low-income nations reported having fewer than one mental health practitioner per 100,000 people.
Covid-19 possesses “uncovered a history of underinvestment in mental health services Countries must move quickly to ensure that everyone has access to mental health care “, according to Devora Kestel, WHO director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use.
