“ATMIYATA”: Reducing distress and improving access to mental healthcare through community-based self-help groups and farmers’ clubs in rural Maharashtra state

Project Lead(s): Kaustubh Joag, Nandita Kapadia-Kundu

Self-help groups, farmers' clubs and other community-based organizations will identify mental illness cases and facilitate access to care in a rural part of India where 5–7% of citizens suffer mental health problems and three in 100 commit suicide. With mental health professionals in short supply, detection rates are low, especially in rural areas, and problems are compounded by social stigma of patients. The result: an estimated 80–90% of mental illness in India goes untreated.