Developing a gender sensitive women’s mental health service in Qatar: A rewarding challenge
Investigations into gender differences in the epidemiology of common mental disorders have highlighted the fundamental role of socio-economic factors as the key determinants in experiencing mental ill health and access to treatment. Women are almost always at a socio-economic disadvantage across cultures throughout the world and as a result experience mental health inequality. This disparity in control over their socio-economic determinants is even more stark in the Middle Eastern and North African region. This region has additionally also cultural and legal conditions that make women empowerment and access to health difficult. Qatar launched an ambitious National Health Strategic program and identified women’s mental health as a priority. This paper describes the development of a gender aware mental health service in Qatar, first of its kind in the region. It describes the challenges that exist in the region when attempting to develop such a service and some challenges that are unique to Qatar. This paper sets out a template of important principles that will be valuable for countries in the MENA region and beyond to develop evidence-based gender aware service that focuses on female empowerment and better mental health outcomes.
Other Information
Published in: Asian Journal of Psychiatry
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102969
Funding
Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library
History
Language
- English
Publisher
ElsevierPublication Year
- 2022
License statement
This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International LicenseInstitution affiliated with
- Qatar University
- Qatar University Health - QU
- College of Medicine - QU HEALTH
- Hamad Medical Corporation
- Al Wakra Hospital - HMC
- Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar