Developing a gender sensitive women's mental health service in Qatar: A rewarding challenge

Investigations into gender differences in the epidemiology of common mental disorders have highlighted the fundamental role of socio-economic factors as the key determinants in experiencing mental ill health and access to treatment. Women are almost always at a socio-economic disadvantage across cultures throughout the world and as a result experience mental health inequality. This disparity in control over their socio-economic determinants is even more stark in the Middle Eastern and North African region. This region has additionally also cultural and legal conditions that make women empowerment and access to health difficult. Qatar launched an ambitious National Health Strategic program and identified women's mental health as a priority. This paper describes the development of a gender aware mental health service in Qatar, first of its kind in the region. It describes the challenges that exist in the region when attempting to develop such a service and some challenges that are unique to Qatar. This paper sets out a template of important principles that will be valuable for countries in the MENA region and beyond to develop evidence-based gender aware service that focuses on female empowerment and better mental health outcomes.The authors would like to sincerely thank the following for their guidance, support and sheer hard work that has helped this pioneering service to take its first steps. Iain Tulley, Susan Cleland (Ministry of Public Health), Debbie Nelson, Katja Warwick Smith, Dr Sazgar Hamad and Dr Najla Abdul Kader Al-Haj. The authors are grateful to the Qatar National Library for making this article Open Access.Scopu