The current state of mental healthcare in Bangladesh: part 2 - setting priorities

M Tasdik Hasan; Tasnim Anwar; Enryka Christopher; Sahadat Hossain; Md Mahbub Hossain; Kamrun Nahar Koly; K M Saif-Ur-Rahman; Helal Uddin Ahmed; Nazish Arman; Saima Wazed Hossain

doi:10.1192/bji.2021.42

The current state of mental healthcare in Bangladesh: part 2 - setting priorities

BJPsych Int. 2021 Nov;18(4):82-85. doi: 10.1192/bji.2021.42.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Consultant (Mental Health), Shuchona Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Email: tasdik.hasan@liverpool.ac.uk.
² Graduate Student, Kings College London, UK.
³ Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴ Lecturer, Department of Public Health & Informatics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁵ DrPH Researcher, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, Texas A&M School of Public Health, College Station, TX, USA.
⁶ Assistant Scientist, Health Systems and Population Studies Division, icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁷ Associate Professor, Child & Adolescent Psychaitry, National Institute of Mental Health, Shere-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁸ Lead Coordinator for Content Development, Shuchona Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁹ Chairperson, Shuchona Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Abstract

This is the second of a two-part profile on mental healthcare in Bangladesh. It describes the state of mental health research in the country and presents a set of priorities for addressing improvements to the fundamental gaps in mental healthcare highlighted in part 1. Focus on building infrastructure for public mental health facilities, training skilled mental health professionals, adequate distribution of financial resources and addressing stigma are all priorities that will contribute to significantly improving mental healthcare in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Bangladesh; Mental health; mental health policy; mental health system; priorities.

Publication types

Review