Malaysia's MIASA Calls On Media To Help By Reporting The Truth On Mental Illness

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 (Bernama) --The Mental Illness Awareness and Support Association (MIASA) has urged the media to report ethically on mental illness to protect the patients and their families from becoming victims of stigma, discrimination and inequality. Its president Anita Abu Bakar said stigma was common in the society due to a lack of knowledge and awareness of the public, hence, the media's role in reporting ethically was vital as the reach and impact could have challenged the stigma itself. “We need media to help us in reporting the truth and reality about the mental illness so the public won’t be having misconceptions. “We've reached more than 500 patients this year who came to MIASA, who has been diagnosed as having a mental illness and it does not include from social media platform report (namely Facebook and Twitter),” she said in a press conference on Stand In Solidarity for Mental Illness here Wednesday. According to Anita, the number of patients was increasing and this indicated the seriousness of the problem in this country. The non-governmental organisations would also organise a workshop with the media, aimed at providing information about mental illness to the society later this year. Founded in September 2017, MIASA is a mental health non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Malaysia's Selangor. -- BERNAMA