Recognising mental health issues in Pakistan

Pakistan has a fast growing population of approximately 178 million, with 42% of it under the age of 14. Mental health receives very little attention in a country struggling to cope with the demands of its exploding population. According to Malik Hussain Mubashir, vice-Chancellor at the University of Health Sciences, Lahore, “There is only one psychiatrist for every 10,000 people in Pakistan, one child psychiatrist for four million children and only four major psychiatric hospitals.”

The International Health Links Funding Scheme (IHLFS), launched by THET, UK-based International Charity and the British Council and funded by DFID, initiated a partnership between the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (PIMS) and King’s College to address the lack of importance given to mental health issues. Under this link, PIMS has organised training for over 300 psychiatrists, lady health workers, school and college teachers and media professionals to help them recognise mental health problems and deal with them sensitively and efficiently.

Shagun Irfan, the principal of City School, found the training session so interesting and informative that she is sending all heads of departments from her school to attend this year’s session. “I was surprised to learn that on average, 15-20% of school children suffer from some sort of mental health problem. After receiving this thorough training, I was able to recognise and address the problems of my students in a much better way”. 

The training helped her identify students suffering from dyslexia, autism and bipolar disorders in her school. According to Shagun, “I am now able to persuade the parents of children who suffer from mental health problems to seek medical help. I am also organising more talks in the school and inviting guest speakers to talk about stress management, mental health disorders and how to tackle these issues.”

Recently, PIMS in partnership with King’s College organised another series of training for Lady Health workers. During these training sessions, over 60 Lady Health Workers will be trained on mental health issues. These Lady Health Workers will act as Master Trainers and cascade this training further.

Dr. Rizwan Taj, head of the Psychiatry Department at PIMS, has been the force behind the project. Under his guidance, all activities were carried out as planned, within the budget and on time. Dr. Taj aims to work on similar projects in the future until his ambition of “mental health services for all” becomes a reality.