Malaysia moves to tackle rising mental health crisis among children, teens
- A ‘huge number’ of children in Malaysia – around 424,000 – are struggling with their mental health, the country’s health minister said
- ‘We need early intervention’, she said, citing survey results showing one in four teens had experienced depression, and 1 in 10 had attempted suicide
The National Centre of Excellence for Mental Health has been tasked with drawing up the plan to combat “a rising trend in mental health issues among our younger generation … both children and teenagers,” she said on Sunday in a speech marking National Mental Health Day.
“As per our statistics, there are some 424,000 children who are facing mental health problems. That is a huge number.”
We need early intervention to ensure that our children will not deteriorate to a more serious state
Last year’s National Health and Morbidity Survey showed that one in four Malaysian teenagers had experienced depression, one in eight had suicidal thoughts and one in 10 had attempted suicide, Zaliha said.
“We need early intervention to ensure that our children will not deteriorate to a more serious state when it comes to mental health,” she said.
The health ministry is working with the education ministry and other government agencies to combat the problem through early detection and intervention, Zaliha said, further pointing to her ministry’s Mentari outreach programme that focuses on reintegrating people with mental health issues into society.
How the pandemic brought Asian children to breaking point
Zaliha further highlighted a suicide-prevention module that had been developed to train emergency and government workers, including firefighters and police officers, on how to deal with such cases.
She also introduced the MyMinda feature on the government’s MySejahtera application – developed during the pandemic to help manage Covid outbreaks – that offers access to mental-health screening services, education resources and a helpline.
The ministry’s “Mental Health Belongs To All, Stop The Stigma” campaign was also launched at the event to improve literacy on mental-health issues and prevent stigma and discrimination against sufferers.
