LAHORE: A cycle rally was held in the provincial capital to mark the World Mental Health Day on Sunday and to raise awareness about the mental health issues.

The event was organised by the Move for Mental Health, Bank of Punjab and the Defence Housing Authority (DHA). More than 300 people, including women and children, from different walks of life participated in the event held at Commercial Broadway Phase-8 of the DHA.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan, Dr Farid Ahmed and Shahina Asif Chaudhry also participated in the walk.

Some of the participants were walking on the foot while others were riding the bicycles. Most of the cyclists were women and children.

Mr Sultan, talking to the media, said the event was organised to mark the World Mental Health Day. He said the walk and the rally were attempts to make the people aware about the significance of mental health and make them realise that mental health was as important as physical health.

He said those facing the mental health issues should not feel ashamed and seek help, the persons helping should not misbehave with the mentally challenged people and no one should humiliate any mentally challenged person. He said that defending vulnerable people of their society was of utmost importance in any developed country or nation.

Another participant, Aima Waqar, said the people were forced to stay in their houses during lockdowns due to the Covid-19 and physical activity was necessary for them.

“Remaining inside the houses would leave negative impacts on the people’s mental health and they all have gathered to mark the World Mental Health Day to raise awareness.”

Ms Waqar said physical activities should be carried out to overcome the mental health issues and other diseases like diabetes and heart problems.

“Special measures should be taken to support the mentally challenged people for improving their physical and mental well-being,” she added.

Maha Nauman said they had done cycling to refresh their minds and it would bring about positivity to their mental health.

Maheen Kashif said the people in Pakistan did not know about mental health disorders and this event would create awareness in this regard.

She said they would come out of their daily routine during this pandemic and go for cycling to feel better.

The organisers distributed certificates among the participants.

The World Mental Health Day is observed every year on Oct 10 for raising awareness and spreading education about mental health issues across the globe. Mental health has come into focus in during the Covid-19 pandemic like never before as the people of all age groups and occupations bore the brunt of the ‘new normal’. Health and other frontline workers, students, people living alone and those with pre-existing mental health conditions have been particularly affected during the pandemic.

“In recent years, there has been increasing acknowledgement of the important role mental health plays in achieving global development goals as illustrated by the inclusion of mental health in Sustainable Development Goals,” according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2021