Care closer to home: Pakistan's new mental health policy aims at 32.4 million people who need support

Pakistan has adopted a National Mental Health Policy for 2026 to 2035, developed with the World Health Organization and UNICEF, aimed at the estimated 32.4 million people in the country who need mental health care. The plan's direction is to move support out of distant specialist hospitals and into schools, primary clinics and communities, so help arrives earlier and nearer to families. A policy is a beginning, not a result — but it sets the rules and budgets that services grow from.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: policy reform