Paediatric mental health in Pakistan: a neglected avenue.

Last few years have been phenomenal in improving the status of Paediatric health in Pakistan. An imperative avenue which has remained neglected, however, is the Paediatric Mental Health. Though country wide surveys are not available in literature, estimates gauge the prevalence of childhood mental disabilities in Pakistan to around 17% (8% mental retardation and 9% behavioural, emotional and pervasive developmental disturbances).1,2 Early identification and intervention has been implicated to improve clinical and social outcomes in most of these disorders.3,4 The multidimensional manifestations of these disorders make them liable to be picked in three different settings i.e., home, school and primary health care setting.