Pakistan's silent crisis |
Mental health in Pakistan has long been neglected; it is quietly emerging as one of the country's most overlooked issues, posing some of the gravest public-health challenges. Recent estimates suggest that nearly four in ten Pakistanis struggle with some form of mental disorder. This should be enough to lift the issue from the private domain to the national agenda.
Young people confronting unemployment and social pressures, women restricted within four walls, young girls denied timely marriages due to dowry demands or incompatible matches, communities affected by tribal feuds, and elderly citizens facing isolation all find themselves vulnerable. What binds these experiences is the absence of a system equipped to support them. The burden is no longer confined to any single demographic.
Pakistan's health infrastructure offers too little to too few. With fewer than 0.2 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, the system is structurally incapable of addressing a crisis of this scale. Primary healthcare centres rarely have trained counsellors, and........