Besides treatment for HIV, as a pilot project for its initiative Samvad, the Mumbai AIDS District Control Society (MDACS) had been treating People living with HIV (PLHIV) for mental illness. The pilot survey revealed that 10.8 per cent of  PLHIV participants had symptoms suggestive of mental health comorbidity. Now MDACS will reach out through Samvad to the around 36,000 PLHIV across Mumbai.

In today’s competitive world people have work and career tensions, physical issues, financial and relationship issues, and all these impact their mental health, resulting in stress, anxiety, and sometimes depression. In view of rising mental illnesses, MDACS started the mental health sessions ‘Samvad’ in the year 2021.