To combat the rising number of suicidal situations and mental health difficulties in Pakistan, Google introduced a suicide hotline in cooperation with ‘Umang Pakistan‘ on Thursday, allowing people to obtain immediate aid at the top of the search result page while searching for anything linked to suicide.
Umang is a mental health helpline recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) that provides support to Pakistanis who are considering or planning suicide.
Each year, between 130,000 and 270,000 people try suicide in Pakistan, according to the WHO. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in search interest in mental health issues.
According to Google Trends, anxiety, sadness, and suicide surged in the country in the 2020-21 era.
Google Regional Director of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, Farhan Qureshi said, “As we see from Trends [Google], Pakistanis are looking for answers about their mental health. We understand time is of the essence when searching for help, especially for those who may be facing suicidal thoughts. We hope that this feature aids vulnerable users in finding help in times of need.”
Umang Pakistan Founder and chief executive officer Kinza Naeem said, “Mental health is the biggest unaddressed problem of our era, especially in a place like Pakistan where more than 40 percent of the population is suffering from some degree of mental health issues.
“We are utterly grateful to Google for this timely partnership. I am certain that together we will be able to reach out to the maximum number of people in dire need of mental health support and break the taboo around it nationwide.”
On both desktop and mobile (Android/iOS), the hotline version will be released soon.
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