Islamabad: Pakistan has pledged to turn its new mental-health policy into measurable results and advance international cooperation, declaring mental health a shared global responsibility at the conclusion of the Pakistan Global Mental Health Summit 2026.
The Islamabad Declaration, adopted at the end of the two-day summit, said mental health was not the responsibility of one country or institution but of the global community, and called for action through partnerships, sustainable financing and community-based care.
It said Pakistan would seek to provide leadership through practical measures, implementation of its National Mental Health Policy 2026-35 and the proposed Global Alliance for Mental Health.
The declaration was adopted as Pakistan faces a major shortfall in mental-health care, with around 32 million people requiring support and only about five percent of the population estimated to have access to services.
The summit, held in Islamabad on October 1 and 2, was organised by the Ministry of National Health Services in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the Global Institute of Human Development at Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University.
It brought together policymakers, Pakistani and international mental-health experts, provincial health officials, academics, development partners, young people and people with lived experience of mental-health conditions.
The event also saw the launch of Pakistan’s first National Mental Health Policy 2026-35 by Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal, as well as national programmes for child and adolescent mental health through schools.
The policy was launched days after Pakistan’s first nationally representative psychiatric survey found that 32.3 percent of adults, or nearly one in every three Pakistanis, were living with a diagnosable mental or behavioural disorder.
The study, published in BMJ Public Health, was conducted between 2019 and 2022 in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Researchers interviewed 17,773 adults aged 18 years and above through household visits using a structured psychiatric assessment.
It found neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders in 24.5 percent of adults, post-traumatic stress disorder in 19.9 percent and depressive disorders in 10.6 percent.
The survey also found that 6.2 percent of respondents had experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviour during the preceding month, while 1.1 percent reported a suicide attempt during their lifetime.
WHO said Pakistan had approximately 0.19 psychiatrists per 100,000 population, compared with an average of seven per 100,000 people in high-income countries. The shortage of specialists, stigma, poverty and the absence of services at most primary healthcare facilities have left the treatment gap at around 95 percent.
WHO Deputy Representative Ellen Tom said Pakistan had the evidence and medical knowledge needed to prevent and treat common mental-health conditions, but these had to be translated into services people could access.
She said investing in depression and anxiety care was also economically sound, as every dollar spent could generate four dollars through improved health and productivity.
Minister of State for Health Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath said the summit was not an end but the start of a practical national journey to make mental-health care available close to people’s homes.
He asked provinces and federating areas to submit written endorsement of the National Mental Health Policy within 45 days to facilitate implementation on the ground.
Dr Bharath announced that a National Hub of Excellence for Mental Health would be established in collaboration with provinces as a technical platform to translate evidence into policy, strengthen capacity and support the mental-health workforce.
He said a sustainable, costed and time-bound implementation and monitoring plan would be prepared over the next 12 months in consultation with provinces and other stakeholders.
During the next two to three years, he said, the government would focus on expanding services through primary healthcare and community-based care, increasing the workforce including school psychologists, and incorporating mental health into laws, budgets, health-benefit packages and health-data systems.
Prof Dr Mohammad Iqbal Khan, Vice Chancellor of Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, said the policy was an important first step but implementation would determine whether it improved people’s lives.
He called for strong political commitment, adequate financing and clear accountability, saying universities and teaching hospitals could support the policy through research, workforce training and innovation.
Dr Syed Usman Hamdani, Founding Director of the Global Institute of Human Development, said Pakistan had demonstrated through research and community programmes that evidence-informed services could be delivered through primary healthcare facilities, schools and communities.
Pakistan Medical and Dental Council President Prof Dr Rizwan Taj said mental-health teaching in undergraduate medical and dental education had been increased from 50 to 175 hours and would be raised to 200 hours, while annual mental-health screening of students and staff would also be introduced.