• The WHO has awarded NIMHANS, Bengaluru, an institute of national importance under the Union health ministry, the Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion for 2024.

• The 2024 award was jointly bestowed to Professor Bontle Mbongwe, Botswana and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), India.

• Bontle Mbongwe from Botswana is a renowned public health advocate and a passionate tobacco control activist. Through country-level consultations that she initiated during the negotiation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Botswana’s Control of Smoking Act, 1992, was amended in 2004 to restrict smoking in public places to protect children, pregnant women and workers, raise the minimum-age restrictions for selling tobacco products, prohibiting their sale to persons under 18 years and ban tobacco advertising and promotion. 

Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion

• The Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion was established in 2019 upon the initiative of the Ministers of Health of Member States of the African Region.

• It is awarded to individuals, institutions and/or governmental or non-governmental organisations that have made a significant contribution to health promotion, as per the Statutes for the award.

• The Award aims at rewarding work that has extended far beyond the call of normal duties.

• The Award given to each laureate consists of a plaque. It is presented by the President of the World Health Assembly at a special ceremony during a plenary of the World Health Assembly, together with the Director-General of the WHO and normally a representative of the Nelson Mandela foundation.

• Any national health administration of a Member State of the WHO, or any former recipient of the award, may put forward the name of a candidate for the Award.

• The Award Selection Panel considers the candidates for the Award and proposes the names of the recipients of the award to the Executive Board. The proposal is considered by the Executive Board, which designates the recipients of the Award.

Foundation of NIMHANS

• The Bangalore Lunatic Asylum was founded in 1847. Dr. Charles Irwing Smith, a British medical practitioner in Bangalore, played a pivotal role in the establishment of the asylum.

• In 1925, the asylum was rechristened Mental Hospital signifying a paradigm shift in management of mental problems.

• The government of India sanctioned the establishment of the All India institute of Mental Health on April 1, 1954.

• The mental hospital established by the government of Mysore and the All India Institute of Mental Health established by the government of India were amalgamated on December 27, 1974, resulting in the formation of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS).

• NIMHANS was declared an Institute of National Importance on September 14, 2012 by the government of India.

• NIMHANS in Bengaluru delivers state-of-the-art clinical care, carrying out training and research as well as involving the communities it serves. 

• It collaborates with central and state governments in framing, informing and implementing national policies and strategies such as the National Mental Health Policy (2014), the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2022). 

• NIMHANS involves young people as change agents within district youth-empowerment centres in order to bridge the gap between young people, their families and an ever-changing society (reaching about 6 million young people). 

• In addition, it is engaged in a national initiative for child protection, mental health and psychosocial care (reaching more than 3 million people). 

• Other major programmes led by the Institute include training and accrediting community volunteers to deliver mental health first aid. As many as 18 000 gatekeepers have been trained to facilitate the early identification of suicide risk and to intervene. 

• NIMHANS has initiated numerous digital technology initiatives, including the Digital Academy, whose courses have been followed by 2,500 healthcare providers. 

• A national helpline for psychosocial support and mental health services was launched during the first wave of COVID-19. In 2022, the Institute established the National Tele Mental Health Programme (Tele MANAS) to provide equitable, affordable and high-quality mental healthcare across all Indian states.

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