India sees rise in mental health issues, obesity: Economic Survey
NEW DELHI: India is witnessing a surge in mental health issues, especially among adolescents, and obesity due to an increase in consumption of highly processed foods laden with sugars and fat, said the Economic Survey of India on Monday.
The Economic Survey, which was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman a day ahead of the Union Budget, also highlighted gaps in the existing programmes that deal with mental health and said a paradigm shift towards a bottom-up, whole-of-community approach is needed to address the problem.
Raising “serious” concerns over growing obesity among India’s adults, it said 54% of the total disease burden in India is due to unhealthy diets. It highlighted that a higher number of women face the problem as compared to men in states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Citing the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the Economic Survey said that in the National Capital Territory (Delhi), 41.3 per cent of women are obese compared to 38 per cent of men. At the same time, in Tamil Nadu, it is 40.4 per cent of women while 37 per cent of men are obese.
In Andhra Pradesh, 36.3 per cent of women are obese as against 31.1 per cent of men.
It also said that, as per NFHS, the incidence of obesity is significantly higher in urban India than in rural India. It is 29.8% for men in urban India versus 19.3% for rural India.
Obesity presents a "concerning situation," and preventive measures must be taken to enable citizens to have a healthier lifestyle, it said, adding that "Combined with an ageing population in some states, obesity presents a concerning situation. Preventive measures must enable citizens to have a healthier lifestyle."
If India needs to "reap the gains of its demographic dividend, it is critical that its population's health parameters transition towards a balanced and diverse diet."
The Survey quoted the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) report, which said that the rise in consumption of highly processed foods laden with sugars and fat, coupled with reduced physical activity and limited access to diverse foods, exacerbate micronutrient deficiencies and overweight/obesity problems.
Estimates show that the adult obesity rate in India has more than tripled, and the rise in children is the steepest in the world for India, behind Vietnam and Namibia, the survey stated, the survey said referring to a World Obesity Federation report.
The Economic Survey said that, regarding mental health, “While most of the policy design is in place, proper implementation can accelerate the improvement. That said, certain gaps in the existing programmes must be addressed to maximise their effectiveness."
Paying attention to mental health in society is both a health and an economic imperative, the policy document asserted while dwelling on the topic in a vast and detailed manner for the first time, highlighting the various socio-economic repercussions of the issue.
It noted that mental health drags down productivity more widely in the ecosystem than individuals' physical health issues.
Quoting the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) 2015-16 data, the survey said 10.6 per cent of adults suffered from mental disorders in India, while the treatment gap for mental disorders ranged between 70 to 92 per cent for different disorders.
Quoting the same survey, it said that the prevalence of mental morbidity was higher in urban metro regions (13.5 per cent) as compared to rural areas (6.9 per cent) and urban non-metro areas (4.3 per cent), it added.
The fundamental issue of the lack of awareness about mental health and the stigma surrounding it can render any sincerely crafted programme unfeasible, it added.
"Hence, there is a need to bring about a paradigm shift and utilise a bottom-up, whole-of-community approach in addressing mental health. Breaking the stigma starts with taking cognisance of the natural human tendency to accept physical ailments and seeking treatment for the same while being in denial about mental health issues," it said.
To an extent, the denial is an outcome of fear about social attitudes and social acceptance after one 'comes out' with mental health issues, it said.
"For public health officials, tackling mental health requires acknowledging and addressing this reluctance. Mental health issues drag down productivity more widely in the ecosystem than individuals' physical health issues. Hence, paying attention to mental health issues in society is both a health and an economic imperative," the document noted.
It also linked the increase in mental health issues in children and adolescents with the overuse of the internet and, specifically, social media.
Unrestrained and unsupervised use of the internet by children can culminate into a range of problems, from the more prevalent obsessive consumption of social media or 'doom scrolling' to severe ones such as cyberbullying.
In the Indian context, the rising usage of the Internet on mental health has been indicated by a 2021 study on 'Effects of using Mobile Phones and other devices with Internet accessibility by children' by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, (NCPCR) according to which 23.8 per cent of children use smartphones while they are in bed, and 37.2 per cent of children experience reduced levels of concentration due to smartphone use, it highlighted.