India is piloting a new mental-health support network for the BRICS grouping, bringing together an unusual mix of tools — Japanese-style manga comics, a round-the-clock helpline and artificial intelligence — to reach people who might otherwise never seek help.

The pilot, anchored by NIMHANS, India’s premier mental-health institute, is aimed squarely at the treatment gap: the vast distance between the number of people who need mental-health support and the number who actually receive it.

Why manga, helplines and AI

Each element of the pilot tackles a different barrier. Manga — the graphic storytelling format — is being used to make conversations about mental health accessible and stigma-free, particularly for younger audiences who might tune out conventional messaging.

The 24×7 helpline offers a human voice at any hour, recognising that distress does not keep office hours. And AI is being layered in to scale support — helping route callers, flag high-risk cases and extend the reach of a limited pool of trained professionals.

The treatment gap problem

Mental-health experts have long warned that across BRICS nations, the majority of people living with depression, anxiety and other conditions go untreated. Shortages of psychiatrists and psychologists, combined with deep-rooted stigma, keep the gap stubbornly wide.

A networked approach — shared across the BRICS countries — could let member nations pool tools, training material and best practices rather than each building support systems from scratch.

What comes next

As a pilot, the initiative will be watched closely for what works and what doesn’t. If the combination of creative outreach, always-on human support and AI-assisted triage proves effective, it could become a template for the wider BRICS bloc.

For now, India’s experiment is a sign that mental-health policy is moving beyond clinic walls — towards formats and channels that meet people where they already are.