Soldiers or health care professionals? Pakistan’s stressed medical personnel

Health care workers have played one of the most important roles in helping reduce the devastation of the coronavirus across the world. Here Aisha Sanober Chachar (Consultant Paediatric Psychiatrist and an Independent Researcher, Pakistan) explains the pressure doctors, nurses, and other health workers have been under in Pakistan and what the government must do to ease the burden on their work

The mhgap; will it bridge the mental health Treatment gap in Pakistan?

In Pakistan, the treatment gap for mental disorders is significantly high. Pakistan faces a unique problem of sustainable delivery. In 2009, WHO launched a mental health gap action program (mhGap) to provide evidence-based services at the primary and secondary level for the prevention and management of psychiatric and neurological disorders. This article highlights the discrepancies of the systems and issues related to mental health services provision in Pakistan. By discussing two initiatives of mhGap implementation for the Pakistani health system, authors have surveyed core areas where the sustainability of such a model can be compromised. The structural challenges marked by the stresses of an economy under pressure, poverty, health disparities, weak administration, allocation of resources and stigma attached to MNS exacerbated by both natural disasters and geopolitical crises make implementation an ongoing challenge. Despite these challenges, in recent years, Pakistan has taken positive strides to start the conversations at leadership and the professional landscape, a trend that is likely to continue. The various components of public and private healthcare systems have remained inadequate to reduce this treatment gap. To create and maintain the momentum, support in terms of capital resource, human resources, infrastructure, and need for advocacy at governmental and non-governmental levels is necessarily required

Debate: COVID-19 and school mental health in Pakistan

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the social distancing procedures have caused disruptions to daily activities. The first preventive procedures by the closing of schools will undoubtedly have short- and long-term consequences for the mental health of school students. The movement restrictions, school closures and stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic will likely lead to a rise in the rates of domestic violence, loneliness, depression, fear, panic and anxiety, and substance use among school students