KARACHI, Sept 22: The WHO Director of Mental Health and Substance Dependence, Geneva, Dr Benedetto Saracenoe, has said that mental disorders and poverty are closely linked in a vicious cycle with dire impact on people.

He was giving the key-note address at a two-day national symposium on “Mental Health: Understanding the Challenges”, organized by the Aga Khan University and Hospital here on Monday.

The primary objective of the two-day programme is to develop an understanding of mental health challenges being faced in the country as well as all across the world. Besides, the symposium will also provide opportunities for specialists in mental health and human development to present their work, critique current ideas and develop collaborative ventures, which could pave way in formulating mental health policies, legislation and establishing community care facilities for the mentally ill.

The WHO Director said that though no group was immune to mental disorders, however, risk was higher among the poor, children, adolescents, abused women, the unemployed, persons with low education, the neglected elders, victims of violence, migrants, refugees and indigenous populations.

According to him, mental disorders impair psychological and social functioning and individuals with mental disorders end up in more socially disadvantaged circumstances.

Dr Saracenoe said that at least one member in four families had mental disorder in the world. Though neuropsychiatric disorders were non-fatal in general, but they were highly disabling and account for 31 per cent of all disability worldwide, he added.

The participants were informed that mental health problems were currently afflicting over 450 million people in the world, with depression feared to emerge as the second most common cause of disability and distress by the year 2020. Mental disorder is also registered emerging at a high pace in Pakistan with little attempts to effectively address the situation.

The chairman psychiatry department of AKU, Dr Morad Moosa Khan, said that mental health ailments exacting a toll in human suffering would be difficult to meet with limited resources available currently or in future.

He stressed for effective solutions, which must be culturally relevant, cost effective, reapplicable and sustainable. He said that limited resources, which were further squandered by massive corruption, made prerequisite a close coordination among government, policy makers, aid donors and health professionals.

He said that 10 per cent men and more than 25 per cent women in Pakistan were suffering from depression, besides one to two per cent of those afflicted with more serious conditions as schizophrenia and similar percentage of kids suffering from retardation.

The pitiable low health budget, little public accessibility to trained psychiatrists, discrimination, stigma, ignorance and an acute lack of treatment facilities intensified the need for a comprehensive approach towards mental health status of the masses, he added.

Fast growing number of drug addicts, mainly comprising young men, increasing levels of violence and intolerance in society was said as further aggravating the situation.

The chairman board of trustees, AKU, Saidullah Khan Dehlavi, who was also the chief guest at the programme, appreciated the organizers for arranging the event and bringing together leading minds in the field to examine the society’s most pressing health concerns. Despite the fact that mental disorders could be treated effectively, a number of people suffered from mental or neurological disorders silently and often along due to stigma attach to the condition, he said.

Dehlavi underscored the need to develop programmes, which could address mental health problems of public, particularly of the rural population that had no access to treatment facilities.

He also referred to the critical importance of early childhood development in respect to health, learning and behaviour. He said that early childhood experiences had a direct impact on brain development. As the early years of children influenced physical and mental development in later years, he called for adequate investments in Early Childhood Development programmes.

In his welcome address, the acting provost of AKU, Dr David Taylor, cited the symposium to be a timely intervention, as mental illnesses could strike anyone but the reasons were often obscure and multi-factorial.

He stressed need for research, which should be comparative, culturally sensitive and more importantly interdisciplinary.

Asst Prof Farida Pirani, Prof Rachel Jenkins, Prof Teepu Siddique, Dr Philip Thomas, Dr Hashim Reza, Prof Wandee Suttharngsee, Dr Eli Berger, Dr Ambreen Ahmed and others spoke on the occasion.—APP/PPI