Annual National Health Sciences Research Symposium on Mental Health

Mental health problems, afflicting more than 450 million people worldwide, are on the rise. The World Health Organization estimates that if the present global trend continues, depression could become the second most common disorder causing disability and distress by the year 2020. These estimates have serious implications for developing countries such as Pakistan, where health, and especially mental health, is seriously under-resourced and largely ignored.

Dr. Murad Moosa Khan (first from left), Chair, Department of Psychiatry, AKU, moderating the question-and-answer session during the National Health Sciences Research Symposium on mental health.

To propel the importance of mental health onto the national agenda, the theme for AKU's annual Health Sciences Research Symposium held in September 2003, therefore was 'Mental Health - Understanding the Challenges'. During this two-day landmark event, distinguished national and international experts, scholars, academicians and health policy-makers from Pakistan, Thailand, Switzerland, USA and UK covered issues such as de-stigmatization, child mental health, drug abuse, suicide prevention, mood disorders and religious superstitions in Muslim communities.

Chief guest on the occasion, Ambassador Saidullah Khan Dehlavi, Chairman, Board of Trustees of AKU, expressed the hope that through its annual National Health Sciences Research Symposia, the "University can serve as a platform to collect the latest advances, to learn from each other and to make an impact on the developing world." In his opening remarks, Dr. Murad Moosa Khan, Chair, Department of Psychiatry, AKU, provided estimates for Pakistan, showing extremely high figures for depression and other mental disorders. These were far more elevated than other developing countries with similar socio-economic conditions.

Dr. Khan noted that this problem was compounded by factors such as a psychiatrist-population ratio of around one psychiatrist to a million people, discrimination, stigma, ignorance and an acute lack of treatment facilities. He also highlighted that "in order to be effective, solutions would need to be culturally    relevant, cost effective, replicable and sustainable." In his keynote address, Dr. Benedetto Saraceno, Director, Mental Health Division, World Health Organization, emphasised that "most mental, brain and substance-use disorders can be managed effectively with medication and/or psychosocial interventions."  Describing mental ill health as a growing burden representing a major challenge to global development, Dr. Saraceno recommended urgent action to overcome barriers such as stigma and a lack of skills at the primary health care level, which prevent people from receiving appropriate care.

Speakers covered numerous areas in their presentations and lectures. Dr. Eli Breger, Life Fellow, American Academy of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry, International Relation Committee, South Carolina, USA, described the effects of armed conflicts on child mental health in the global perspective. He noted that around one-third of the world's refugee children, estimated to be at least five million, were in settings outside their countries, and 12 million remained homeless in their own countries. "With limited hope of uniting with their families, the children are forced into renegade military factions, trained in ways of combat, often under the influence of drugs," he explained. Meanwhile, Dr. Ambreen Ahmad, a psychiatrist from South Carolina, USA, analysed the effects of gender    differences and gender bias in both patients and mental health providers as revealed through the treatment process.

Dr. Hashim Reza from Orpington Hospital, UK, speaking on religious superstitions in the context of mental health, said that religion impacts mental health services by shaping attitudes of the general public and those of professionals. "These attitudes have thus far varied from mutual antipathy to open hostility and various shades in between," he said. He explained how most commonly held superstitions are explainable in terms of local traditions and customs, and highlighted the need for public education with the objective of dispelling such superstitions. Dr. Abul Faizi, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, AKU, gave a clinical and socio-cultural perspective of drug addiction in Pakistan. He informed that according to conservative estimates, there were over four million drug addicts in Pakistan. Other invited speakers included Dr. Philip Thomas, Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Research Fellow at Bradford University, UK, who gave two presentations on 'Culture and Mental Health' and 'Globalization and Mental Health', and Professor Teepu Siddique from North Western University, Chicago, USA, who spoke  on 'Neurobiology and Mental Health'.

The Symposium was followed by a one-day workshop for training lay counsellors for counselling depressed and anxious women in urban and rural communities. In addition, there was a four-day laboratory-based workshop on molecular and analytical techniques for researchers involved in the field of mental health, wishing to familiarise themselves with basic, analytical and clinical research methods.

For more information, please visit http://www.aku.edu/news/archives/natsymp03-post.shtml

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