Newly enacted mental health law in Bangladesh

Abstract

Mental health problems are almost ignored in Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The lack of overall health literacy and human resources due to an ineffectively updated legal and regulatory framework, coupled with very limited but misused budget allocation, are some of the factors responsible for this. The country's Constitution recognises the importance of public health and stipulates the improvement of public health as an important primary duty of the state. Nevertheless, it is often compromised or neglected in favour of other socioeconomic development priorities. The Lunacy Act 1912 was recently repealed and substituted by the Mental Health Act 2018 to fill in various gaps in mental health law. This is a welcome development, but there remain limitations and scope for further improvement. We highlight some important provisions of this newly enacted law, identify some limitations and propose some issues for consideration in future policy reform.