Unicef: In 15-24 age group, Covid has left one in seven feeling low

Report shows young people in India less likely to seek help for mental health issues

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has created serious concerns about the mental health of children and their families, says Unicef report on mental health ‘The States of the World’s Children 2021’. The report says that around 14 per cent of 15 to 24-year-olds in India, or 1 in 7, are often feeling depressed.

The report, released by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya yesterday, has illustrated in stark terms how events in the wider world can affect the world inside our heads.

In the Unicef survey across 21 countries, only 41 per cent of young people in India were willing to seek support for mental health problems, compared to an average of 83 per cent for the other countries.

Releasing the report, Mandaviya said: “A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. We are very happy that today Unicef has released a global report on the mental health of children”.

He added that as the trend of nuclear family instead of joint family has increased in society, mental health problems in children have become commonplace. “Today parents are not able to give enough time to their child, so we need to talk about mental health,” he said. “It has to be taken seriously,” he added.

Mandaviya said: “To build a better and developed society, it is necessary to keep monitoring the mental health of children from time to time. For this, arrangements will also have to be made for better mental health of teachers in schools. Because, children trust their teachers the most”.

According to data from Unesco, over 286 million children up to grade 6 were out of school in India between 20202021.