Collaborative workshop to explore role of media and mental health

Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru in association with Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy (CMHLP) and Sangath organised a 2-day brainstorming session on the role of media, mental health and suicide, with media being problematised from a commercial determinants of health perspective. The session was hosted by CMHLP and was conducted at their office in Pune.

The key objectives of the session was to brainstorm on the ramifications of contemporary media on mental health and suicide related outcomes and to devise appropriate future strategies to engage with the media and develop effective strategies for mental health and suicide prevention. The session examined media from the lens of commercial determinants and hypothesised mechanisms through which the media (news and social) impacts mental health, suicide and self-harm behaviours.

The discussions were led by Soumithra Pathare, Director, CMHLP and was co led by Dr Upendra Bhojani, IPH and Dr Abhijit Nadkarni, Sangath. One day one, Dr Soumithra Pathare introduced the session and laid out the key objectives of the session on day one. This was followed by sessions by CMHLP team on the contemporary landscape of suicide and self-harm in India as well as on the key players who constituted modern media in India. Following this, Dr Upendra Bhojani introduced the Commercial Determinants of Health framework and the potential ways to examine media from a CDOH lens. Dr Abhijit presented a session on media and mental health and shared insights on how they could be framed through the lens of CDOH. 

The session wounded up on day two following the deliberations on possible outputs and next steps that could be developed from the brainstorming session. The team deliberated on developing opinion pieces as well as commentary articles on the dimension of media and CDOH. Three teams were formed comprising of members from all the organisations. This included one team that will engage in working on a commentary piece of possible ways to frame media from a CDOH lens. A second paper that examined the possible learnings that could be generated from efforts to curtail the tobacco and alcohol industry and its parallels with media. A third output involved one team working on a commentary piece on the idea of social media as a public good or not.

Institute of Public Health Bengaluru in association with Department of Commerce, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) and Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal conducted a half a day workshop on Commercial Determinants of Health (CDOH) to faculty and students on January 17, 2025. Dr. Cherian Varghese– Director, PSPH Dr. Sandeep Shenoy– HoD, Department of Commerce, MAHE and Dr. Upendra Bhojani, Senior Fellow, Institute of Public Health Bengaluru inaugurated the workshop. The workshop was attended by various senior faculties and students. 

Chief Guest Dr. Cherian Varghese, Director, PSPH addressed the workshop and explained briefly the influence that commercial entities have on public health. Dr. Sandeep Shenoy, HoD- Department of Commerce highlighted importance of collaborative work in addressing commercial determinants of health. 

Dr. Upendra Bhojani, Senior Fellow, IPH Bengaluru and Senior Fellow India Alliance DBT/Wellcome Trust introduced the CDOH concept to the participants. He explained that the definition of CDOH has evolved over time. The fact that commercial entities shaping public health, both positively and negatively, was stressed in particular during the course of workshop. 

The participants were engaged in group work after introduction on CDOH. In the group work teams were asked to come up with research questions pertaining to various public health issues and CDOH. 5 teams presented various research questions, that could potentially become used as research on CDOH.