SAMVAD-NIMHANS team to assess children issues in Arunachal

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Two teams from SAMVAD (Support, Advocacy, and Mental Health Interventions for Children in Vulnerable Circumstances and Distress) under the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore are on a five-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh for conducting rapid assessments on child protection and mental health issues in the state from April 24 to 28, in collaboration with the state women and child development department. While one team is covering the eastern zone of the state and carrying out assessments in Namsai and Lower Dibang Valley districts, the other team has covered Papum Pare and Lower Subansiri districts in the western zone.

During the course of their assessment period, the SAMVAD team interacted with various stakeholders in child protection and mental health in the state, like the heads of the women and child development department, social justice, empowerment, tribal affairs, education, health, labour, and panchayati raj, an official communiqué informed on Friday. The team members also met the chairperson and members of the Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (APSCPCR) and all the district, block, and village level functionaries related to child protection and mental health, like the members of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), deputy commissioners, district child protection units, child care institutions, One Stop centres, primary health centres, anganwadi centres, schools, and panchayat leaders, among others. The assessment report compiled would be submitted to the state women and child development department, which would be utilized for developing a training programme for the functionaries of child protection and mental health issues in the state by SAMVAD-NIMHANS. The assessment programme would also help the state government formulate programmes and policies for child protection and mental health intervention for children in vulnerable circumstances and distress.

The NIMHANS, a tertiary care mental health establishment under the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, is an academic institution and a teaching hospital. SAMVAD is a national initiative and integrated resource for child protection, mental health, and psychosocial care established by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, located in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NIMHANS.

Meanwhile, the SAMVAD team, led by Shekhar Seshadri, visited the office of the APSCPCR here on Friday and interacted with the chairperson and members of the Commission. APSCPCR Chairperson Gumri Ringu informed the team about various activities of the Commission and the challenges faced while dealing with various child-related issues, especially POSCO cases.

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