RESEARCH conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that mental health issues among Malaysians increased by two-fold compared with baseline data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019. The outcome of this is a soaring figure of 2,800 suicide cases throughout the pandemic thus far. We are concerned by the likelihood that members of low-income groups especially will develop mental health issues as they have experienced double the financial hardship.
Increasing mental health issues is a reflection of gaps in accessing mental healthcare. Poor help-seeking behaviour stems from high mental health stigma, and low mental health literacy hinders people from getting the needed treatment.
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