WHO has published a report saying that mental health affects a billion people in the world [WHO, 2025a]
A particularly acute problem in India is the fact that about 20% of the women have mental issues after childbirth [Frontiers, 2024]. Depression following childbirth is quite common. Medical problems of women of childbearing age are often due to anemia and malnutrition
[WHO, 2025b]. This is compounded by social evils such as dowry demands, unnecessary caesarean sections, tensions about the gender of the newborn, increasing costs of medical care, and the expectation that the woman’s parents should take care of the medical expenses of pregnancy. A recent phenomenon is that of working women who face a career threat. Maternal leaves are not long enough and if and when they can resume their jobs is uncertain.
Educators and social activists should ensure that women are prepared to meet these challenges. The medical fraternity should work to reduce the incidence of anaemia, which is a noteworthy problem. Society should work to reduce suicides resulting from depression following childbirth. These suicides leave the orphaned newborn in a pathetic state.
It would be valuable for NGOs to encourage women to form support groups for expecting mothers from early pregnancy till the baby is one or two years old. This is a critical period when a woman is most vulnerable. If five to ten neighbours form a support group, they can occasionally provide nutritious meals and help take the expecting mother to see a doctor when necessary. Those who can afford to do so offer to babysit after the baby arrives. The moral support from the neighbours would also inhibit in-laws from ill-treating the woman for the sake of dowry.
A healthy society must develop practices like this, which are rooted in our culture. Urban living sometimes isolates families from their neighbours. Hence, there is a need for initiatives to reshape our lives.
Srinivasan Ramani
References
- [WHO, 2025a]
https://www.who.int/news/item/02-09-2025-over-a-billion-people-living-with-mental-health-conditions-services-require-urgent-scale-up - [Frontiers, 2024]
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/global-womens-health/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2024.1393215/full
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