Mental health and Covid-19

With the spread of Covid-19, more than three billion people worldwide are now living under lockdown. Unfortunately, there are still many people in society who are paying lip service to the lockdown measures taken by the government. Resultantly with each passing day these measures will be getting tougher and stricter to check the rapid spread of Covid-19 in the country. As restrictions on people's mobility are going tougher with each passing day, there are reports of increase in domestic violence as families are cooped up together in a stressful environment. Resultantly, there are reports that "the risk of suicide is increasing with the isolating of people." It is normal to feel distressed, confused and scared during a crisis. However, the terrible part of this Covid-19 pandemic is the lack of human touch, which is a source of solace for the bereaved. In this difficult time it is important to continue looking after your physical and mental health.

In this critical time it is the responsibility of all stakeholders to come forward and play a pivotal role to create awareness in the community to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as well as to devise a psycho-social support mechanism to cope with the situation. In this regard, social media, print media and news channels should come forward and initiate special programmes in which experts such like psychologists, sociologists and scholars should be invited to educate people and respond to their queries regarding mental health.

Ghazi Khan

Peshawar