A legislative review of mental health legislations has been initiated by the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives in 2026. Following a comprehensive review of the provincial legislations; documentation of the differences between the provincial legislations; preparation of a detailed rights-based analysis of existing laws where each provision was checked against the WHO; and a detailed consultative process; the review of the gap analysis is now planned at provincial levels.

The Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives has prioritised mental health within the national development agenda, a distinction shared by only a limited number of countries around the world. The 5Es framework is a strategic roadmap towards sustainable growth and economic stability, focusing on five critical pillars. A key pillar, Equity, addresses the fundamental issues of accessibility, inclusivity, and social justice in healthcare delivery and envisions MHPSS as a key area to focus on creating equitable access to mental health services for all population segments.

As part of the pilot implementation of the Hamdard Force intervention (Tier 1) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 400 community mental health workers were trained in Haripur and Kohat to identify and refer people with MHPSS needs, through the Hamdard Force mobile application, which is integrated with the MHPSS web-portal. At Tier 2, a team of clinical psychologists supervised the members of Hamdard Force and assessed the referred cases.