Bangladesh has not updated its national data on mental health in seven years despite rising concerns over suicide and growing psychological distress.
The national mental health survey, conducted in last 2018 with World Health Organization funds, found that 16.8 per cent of adults and 13.6 per cent of children aged between 7 and 17 years suffered mental disorders.
It also showed that more than 92 per cent of adults and 94 per cent of children diagnosed with such disorders had received no treatment.
Experts said that the problem had intensified since then as mental health was influenced by dynamic factors such as the Covid pandemic, economic shock, climate disaster, political unrest and social pressure.
They identified lack of awareness, shortage of facilities and stigma as key reasons behind the worsening situation, which they linked to the growing number of suicides.
About 11,000 people died by suicide in 2021, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
When the crises are severe, facilities for treatment remain limited, largely concentrated in Dhaka and a handful of cities.
According to a recent study by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, the country has only 260 psychiatrists, less than two per 10 lakh people, and about 565 psychologists.
National Institute of Mental Health director Md Mahbubur Rahman said that the 2018 survey was the last nationwide study, and no funds were available for a follow-up study.
He said that there was no system to update the statistics without such studies.
Bangladesh conducted its first national mental health survey in 2005, which showed a prevalence of 16.1 per cent among adults, with higher rates in women (19 per cent) than men (12.9 per cent).
The 2018 survey, the report of which was published in 2019, found that most patients sought care in psychiatrists鈥� private chambers, followed by government facilities and other physicians.
Psychiatry professor Mekhla Sarkar of the National Institute of Mental Health and Hospital said that environmental changes and rapid technological exposure had drastically altered people鈥檚 mental health.
She suggested limiting social media use and spending more time in natural surroundings.
Achol Foundation founder Tansen Rose said that recent events, including the聽 Covid pandemic, floods and student-led political movements, had deepened stress, especially among students.
鈥楩or the lack of updated information, we do not know the scale of vulnerability, but suicides are clearly on the rise,鈥� he said.
Dhaka University clinical psychology professor Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury said that although hundreds of psychology graduates passed out every year, most were not absorbed into the profession.
鈥楾here are no institutional posts for psychologists at district or upazila level hospitals,鈥� he said, urging the government to create jobs, ensure patient safety, and establish a monitoring agency to uphold treatment standards and protect rights.
Bangladesh Psychological Association secretary general M Shamsuddin Elias said that the government allocated only 0.5 per cent of the health budget for mental health, which he called evidence of negligence.
鈥極nly six out of 56 public universities offer psychology courses. Many trained graduates remain unemployed while unqualified people provide services in the absence of a monitoring council,鈥� he said, demanding a professional council, code of conduct and guidelines.
Health services division secretary Md Saidur Rahman admitted that mental health traditionally received less priority.
He said that the absence of new surveys was not just a matter of funding but of a lack of initiatives.
鈥榃e will increase allocations and take forward the mental health sector,鈥� he said.
The government has recently introduced 鈥榃ellbeing Centres鈥� in some public hospitals to provide tele-mental health support for antepartum and postpartum women.
ICDDR,B scientist Ahmed Ehsanur Rahman said that, at the public level, only two mental health hospitals, the National Institute of Mental Health in Dhaka and the Pabna Mental Hospital, existed, alongside the six Wellbeing Centres in four districts run jointly by the government and the ICDDR,B.
鈥楢 large number of patients visit these facilities every day,鈥� he said.
