ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Global Mental Health Summit 2026 opened in Islamabad on Thursday with the launch of the National Mental Health Policy, marking what officials described as a significant step towards strengthening mental health services and making mental healthcare accessible to people across the country.
The two-day summit is being held at Serena Hotel, Islamabad, under the theme “Building Climate-Resilient and Future-Ready Mental Health Systems for Children, Young People and Communities in Pakistan.”
Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal, addressing the inaugural session, said mental health was incomplete without healthcare and that the newly launched policy had been developed with a clear purpose: to bring mental health care closer to every family in Pakistan.
Minister of State for Health Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath, parliamentarians, ambassadors of different countries, the Deputy Representative of the World Health Organisation, and health and psychology experts attended the ceremony.
Syed Mustafa Kamal said mental health was not only a health-sector issue but a shared national responsibility, requiring coordinated action across health, education, communities and other sectors.
He said estimates indicated that around 24 million people in Pakistan required psychiatric assistance, while the country had fewer than one psychiatrist for every 500,000 people. Mental health disorders also constituted a major burden in terms of years lived with disability.
“Behind these numbers are children struggling at school, parents unable to work and families looking for help. Everyone deserves care, dignity and respect,” the minister said.
He said the National Mental Health Policy provided a shared national direction while allowing provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to respond according to their respective local needs.
The minister said the government’s approach was to address mental health across the entire continuum of care, from promotion and prevention to early identification, treatment, rehabilitation and recovery.
He highlighted the integration of mental health into primary healthcare, strengthening of community-based services and ensuring access to specialist care where required as key priorities of the policy.
Syed Mustafa Kamal emphasised that children and young people must remain at the heart of the national mental health response, with schools, families and health services working together to identify and address mental health needs at an early stage.
He also stressed the need to strengthen mental health support during floods and other emergencies, enhance the capacity of healthcare workers and expand the use of digital health services to reach underserved communities.
The federal minister announced that Letters of Understanding would be signed with provincial health and education departments alongside the Islamabad Declaration for Mental Health, aimed at translating policy commitments into practical action.
He said all provinces had remained part of the policy development process from the outset, adding that the federal government would provide the required technical assistance to support provinces in developing implementation plans according to their respective needs.
“These implementation plans will have clear priorities, responsibilities, timelines and measurable results,” he said.
The minister said the ultimate objective was to transform national commitments into mental health services that people could access within their own communities.
Syed Mustafa Kamal appreciated the support and ownership extended by provincial leadership and health and education departments. He also acknowledged the continued collaboration of the Global Institute of Human Development, Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, WHO, UNICEF and other development partners.
He said people with lived experience of mental health challenges, young people and families must remain an integral part of the process, as their voices were essential for developing services responsive to real community needs.
The federal minister called upon all stakeholders to leave the summit with a shared commitment to action and work collectively towards building stronger, accessible and people-centred mental health services across Pakistan.
