According to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression significantly increased by 25 per cent in the first year of the pandemic.

In pre-pandemic Vietnam, according to the statistics published by the Institute of Mental Health under the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital, 30 per cent of the population was diagnosed with various mental health issues, while 25 per cent was related to depression and 15 per cent were caused by stress disorders.

Despite close to one in three people being aware of their conditions, only a few sought medical attention. From the above statistics, the mental health of a large population has been heavily affected by the pandemic.

Tran Thanh Phong, CMO at Prudential Vietnam said, “We cannot talk about holistic wellness without considering mental health. The pandemic has clearly taken a toll on people’s mental health over the past two years, with uncertainties and anxiety affecting our daily lives, particularly in fulfilling our family, social, and personal duties. We hope to support people through this challenging time with our new service features.”

The WHO defines mental health as a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities can cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. A mentally healthy person is generally positive in their thinking and able to take charge of their behaviour and emotions while remaining resilient against life’s challenges.

With the new mental wellness tools now available on Pulse, users can gain more information about their mental health status by using:

• Self-awareness quizzes: Consisting of six tests designed to help users recognise their current mental health conditions, relationship qualities, and their comfort levels in everyday planning and self-nurturing, all important factors for enjoying a happier, more stable and well-balanced life.
• Mood tracker: A feature designed to document and track one’s mood and emotions, with which they can better acknowledge their thoughts and behaviour, moderate negative reactions and increase compassion as well as relationship qualities.

Additionally, Pulse users can access bite-sized, curated audiovisual content on mental health topics and self-care methods should they wish to expand their knowledge.

Since its launch in May 2020, nearly three million users in Vietnam have benefited from the insights and solutions recommended by Pulse. The more popular and frequently used tools in supporting users throughout their health journeys include:

• Healthcheck: A digital questionnaire designed to provide users with a 3D anatomical view of the body and health insights into potential health conditions. It provides suggestions for users to improve their long-term health.
• Symptom checker: An AI-powered chatbot analyses a user’s health condition and provides relevant advice.
• Telemedicine: Enables users to easily access medical consultation via video calls from anywhere in Vietnam.

“The launch of Mental Wellness tools on Pulse further underscores Prudential’s commitment to raising public awareness in Vietnam on the importance of maintaining a balanced life, both physically and mentally. We hope our innovative solutions will offer a pathway for everyone to achieve that and get the most out of life,” added Phong.

Pulse by Prudential can be downloaded on onepulse.onelink.me/yZES/m5vcvrih

or by scanning this QR code: