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Mahira Khan on Pakistan's mental health emergency

Pakistan only has around 500 working psychiatrists - meaning many mental health issues go untreated. In this episode we hear from the people trying to change that.

In this episode we explore mental health provision in Pakistan. Pakistan has a population of more than 200 million people but only around 500 working psychiatrists. This means around ninety percent of those with common mental health issues go untreated.

We hear from Mahira Kahn, a multi award winning Pakistani actress, in April this year Mahira was appointed as an Ambassador for the British Asian Trust. Mahira works with the trust to promote and support it鈥檚 current Peace of Mind campaign. The campaign aims to raise awareness of mental health issues and needs in Pakistan. Mahria tells us about her work with the trust and how her job has affected her own mental health.

We also speak to Sanaa Ahmad who is the British Asian Trust's Mental Health programme manager, and Dr Iffa who works with communities in Pakistan providing mental health treatment.

Presenter / production: Emb Hashmi
Producer: Carmel O'Grady

Photo: Mahira Khan; Credit: Getty

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18 minutes

Broadcast

  • Wed 12 Oct 2022 07:32GMT

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