Aligarh: The Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Community Medicine at Aligarh Muslim University, jointly organized an awareness programme to mark World Suicide Prevention Day at the Rural Health Training Centre in Jawan.

Prof. Saira Mehnaz, Chairperson, Department of Community Medicine, spoke on “Suicide Prevention: A Community Approach” and underscored the role of family, friends, and peers in helping a person with mental and emotional disorders.

Delivering a lecture on “Understanding Suicide and Mental Health Issues”, Dr. Jitendra Kumar from the Department of Psychiatry, shed light on various medical factors that cause mental health issues in a person and lead him to take the extreme step. He said such persons should be identified and brought for medical counseling as soon as possible.

Later, an interactive session was held with other panelists Prof. Saira Mehnaz, Dr. Uzma, and Dr. Tabassum Nawab, which was moderated by Dr. Uzma. The panelists urged the people that persons with mental and emotional pressure should be encouraged to seek help from experts and peers and they should be provided with support for their mental health issues.