Saima named as innovative leader in global mental health

The Global Mental Health Programs Consortium said the 100 names on its list appear in alphabetical order rather than in terms of ranking

FT ONLINE

Saima Wazed Hossain, who spearheads mental health campaigns across the world as a WHO expert, has been named among the 100 ‘Innovative Women Leaders in Global Mental Health’.

The list of ‘Five on Friday’ of the Global Mental Health Programs Consortium, based in New York City's Columbia University, contains women leaders who are individually and collectively improving “our understanding, prevention, and treatment of mental illness”.

The daughter of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Saima, known by her nickname Putul in Bangladesh, is the chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on Autism in Bangladesh, and also Shuchona Foundation that works on mental health issues.

She is also a member of WHO’s Expert Advisory Panel on Mental health.

She brought the neglected issue to the fore by organising the first-ever regional conference in Dhaka in 2011 where regional leaders, including India’s then-ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi, participated.