BHOPAL: The Covid-19 lockdown has amplified mental health issues in children. The pandemic could have a lifelong impact on mental health of children, warned experts taking about the Covid-19 pandemic and mental health in children. Related issues were deliberated in a webinar organized by Child Rights Observatory and UNICEF MP, here on Wednesday.
“It is a unique opportunity for promoting mental health issues in children. Only 41% of children surveyed in India recognised mental health issues and were openly seeking support,” said UNCIEF MP head, Margaret Gwada. MP school education principal secretary Rashmi Arun Shami launched the State of World’s Children Report 2021’ and the MP-specific newsletter ‘Mandal - The voices of adolescent’.
“During the pandemic, around one lakh children have connected to MP education department Umang Helpline MP (for students of classes 9 to 12),” she said. Child Rights Observatory, president Nirmala Buch said, “There is an unwritten acceptance of silence on mental health. The first task is to speak about mental health like any other physical health problems.”
