Mental health experts and media representatives on Sunday urged the government to institutionalise the Volunteer Peer Leader (VPL) Model within Adolescent-Friendly Health Centres (AFHCs), describing it as a cost-effective and sustainable approach to expanding youth-friendly mental health services across Bangladesh.
The event was organised in Dhaka by SERAC-Bangladesh with support from the GHAI Advocacy Accelerator. The dialogue brought together journalists from leading national newspapers, online news portals to strengthen media engagement in advocating for adolescent mental health.
Speakers highlighted the growing burden of mental health challenges in Bangladesh, noting that approximately 16.8% of adults equivalent to nearly 28 million people and 13.6% of children and adolescents experience mental health conditions.
They also pointed to a treatment gap of 92.3% among adults, compounded by a severe shortage of mental health professionals, with only 0.073 psychiatrists and 0.12 psychologists per 100,000 population. Mental health receives just 0.44% of the national health budget.
Against this backdrop, participants identified the Volunteer Peer Leader (VPL) Model as a practical, cost-effective and sustainable approach to strengthening adolescent mental health services.
In his opening remarks, SM Saikat, executive director of SERAC-Bangladesh, stressed the importance of integrating the VPL Model into Bangladesh's adolescent health system. Drawing on the organisation's implementation experience, he called for stronger policy commitment to scale up the model nationwide and moderated the discussion.
Md Nazmul Hasan, project manager at SERAC-Bangladesh, presented an overview of the country's adolescent mental health situation and outlined the implementation, achievements and future potential of the VPL Model in strengthening adolescent-friendly health services.
Three Volunteer Peer Leaders also shared their field experiences, describing their engagement with adolescents, the challenges they encountered and the positive impact of peer-led mental health support within their communities.
Participants said adolescent mental health should be addressed alongside broader social issues, including child marriage, substance abuse, violence and other forms of vulnerability. They stressed that awareness initiatives should begin at the school level and be supported through coordinated action among relevant government institutions.
The discussion also underscored the potential for implementing the VPL Model through public-private partnerships to complement existing government services for adolescents aged 13 to 19, enabling wider access to community-based mental health support.
Speakers emphasised the media's critical role in promoting evidence-based reporting on adolescent mental health and reducing stigma. They said journalists should be engaged from the early stages of programme planning and implementation to help raise public awareness of both mental health issues and the VPL Model.
Beyond improving access to health services, participants noted that the model helps develop youth leadership, communication skills, teamwork, advocacy capacity and social responsibility among adolescents.
They urged the government to institutionalise the Volunteer Peer Leader Model within Adolescent-Friendly Health Centres through strong policy commitment, cross-ministerial and cross-sectoral coordination, and adequate resource allocation to ensure its sustainable implementation nationwide.
