Mental health and wellbeing for all in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, where an estimated 50 million grapple with mental health issues, access to treatment is limited, with only 500 psychiatrists nationwide and no community-based care, 90% of those needing treatment cannot access support. To address this need, the British Asian Trust and CareTech Foundation joined forces in 2018 to help those in need, and change the mental health landscape by destigmatising and raising awareness of mental health.

Our partnership is driving systemic change across Pakistan by motivating behavioural change; influencing policy decisions; and increasing the provision of quality services for those who require them the most. In just five years, we have reached almost 6 million people through our communications and social media activities, over 82,000 people with mental health issues have received support and over 2,200 frontline practitioners have been trained in mental health provision. Most notably, we have established the Pakistan Mental Health Coalition which consists of mental health organisations and experts, whose successes to date include leading a coordinated response to the COVID-19 crisis and the decriminalisation of suicide by repealing section 325 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The partnership continues to stenghten as we look towards scaling our programmes to even more regions in Pakistan.