Silent killer diseases such as mental illness or specifically depression are mostly overlooked as the world combats cancer, Ebola and other major outbreaks. However as the world marks World Health Day the World Health Organization (WHO) has made it point to bring to attention the physiological burden dragging people down, depression.
More than 300 million people—5% of the world population—suffer from depression at any time according to WHO. This overwhelming number is on the rise.
One way to know if you are depressed is when you lose energy and are less able to concentrate, lack the excitement over things that you normally enjoy and the desire to be alone. This drives in the feeling of worthless or guilty, loss hope and the idea of harming ourselves.
WHO says that nearly 50% of people with depression do not get treatment, suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds. So it is important to get treatment.
Treatment requires that we recognize the problem, talk about it and ensure that depressed people are effectively treated.
Unfortunately there are barriers to treatment include a lack of resources, lack of trained health-care providers, and social stigma associated with mental disorders. Thus in most countries people who are depressed are often not correctly diagnosed
The incidence is higher amongst women (5.1%) than men (3.6%), and older people were more susceptible than young people and children according to WHO.
Today is #WorldHealthDay! This year #LetsTalk about #depression, the leading cause of disability worldwide https://t.co/OQ2M8dfwix pic.twitter.com/sX2Lfd9nCC
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 6, 2017
