Sustainable Development Goals and Mental Health in South Asia

This book examines how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are related to mental health in South Asia. According to the World Health Organization, SDG 3 aims for "good health and well-being" which includes mental health. Just like physical health, mental well-being is important for individuals to thrive. Poor mental health can hinder progress in other areas like poverty reduction (SDG 1) or education (SDG 4). Mental illness can make it difficult to hold a job, stay in school, or manage daily life, increasing poverty and limiting opportunities. Hence, we can clearly understand the connection between good mental health and a sustainable future. The SDGs and their progress is one of the global priorities. However, no previous attempt has been made to discuss how the SDGs are related to mental health in South Asia which caters to a population of about 2 billion. This book is the first of its kind to do so.

Dr. Sujita Kumar Kar is currently working as an additional professor of Psychiatry at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is the editor-in-chief of Indian Journal of Health, Sexuality and Culture. He is also the editorial board member and reviewer of various national and international journals. He had written 67 book chapters and more than 480 articles in various national and international journals and made 70 presentations at various national and international conferences. He has been included in the global 2% researcher list released by Stanford University in 2021, 2022, and 2023. His research interests include brain stimulation, neuropsychiatry, and suicide prevention.
Dr. Russell Kabir is an associate professor of Public Health and Biostatistics at Anglia Ruskin University, UK. He leads the M.Sc. Public Health and Community Wellbeing programme at Chelmsford, Essex. The author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications, his books include Learning SPSS Without Pain (2021), Data Analysis with STATA (2022), Panic Buying and Environmental Disasters (2022), and Basic Principles of Epidemiology (2023). He leads epidemiology and statistics module for the postgraduate public health students. He runs the quantitative methods’ sessions for the doctoral school.
He is currently serving as an academic editor for PLOS ONE, BMC Public Health, and Peerj. Dr. Kabir is interested to perform collaborative and interdisciplinary research in public health issues with a special focus on suicide and mental health, dental public health, reproductive health issues, violence against women, and aging-related research.
Dr. S M Yasir Arafat is currently working as an associate consultant of psychiatry at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital Ltd. (BSHL), Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is affiliated with Dnet as an honorary research fellow and Biomedical Research Foundation, Bangladesh, as a senior research fellow. He was affiliated with the University of Bristol, UK, as a visiting senior research associate (August 2021-2023). He completed M.D. in psychiatry from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, and M.B.B.S. from the Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He also did an MPH in health economics and M.B.A. in marketing. Dr. Arafat has (co)authored more than 350 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and (co)edited several books with Springer. He has been included in the global 2% researcher list in 2021, 2022, and 2023. He is acting as an editorial member in more than 10 leading journals in mental health published by Frontiers, Wiley, Springer, and Taylor and Francis.