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ISLAMABAD: The federal government, in collaboration with global and local partners, has launched the National Mental Health Policy 2026-2035, aiming to reach over 32.4 million people in need of mental health care. The policy was formally launched on Thursday by the Federal Minister for National Health Services and Regulation, Mustafa Kamal, on the occasion of Pakistan’s Global Mental Health Summit, organized in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Global Institute of Human Development (GIHD) – Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University (STMU). The summit is being attended by 800 in-person and online participants, including mental health experts, academia, international development partners, and policymakers. The objective is to discuss evidence-based actions that can advance, in Pakistan and globally, the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2030, an international framework approved by all Member States of the World Health Assembly. WHO estimates that approximately 32.4 million people need mental health care in Pakistan, yet only around 5 percent of the population has access to mental health services, leaving a treatment gap of approximately 95 percent. The limited availability of a qualified workforce compounds this lack of access. Pakistan has approximately 0.19 psychiatrists per 100,000 population, compared with an average of 7 per 100,000 people in high-income countries. Addressing the participants, Kamal said that mental health is an emergency in Pakistan as well as a national security issue and a national economic issue. Pakistan needs to bring everyone together, including every ministry and every individual, and everybody has to play their role to create a safe and healthy space to live for the people of this country, Mustafa Kamal. He said that all the stakeholders have to work hard and the participants of the conference need to lead to action, and we are thankful to all national and provincial institutions, authorities, and international and national partners for working together to address this important crisis. Kamal stressed that the National Mental Health Policy marks a shared commitment to bring care closer to every family. Speaking on the occasion, State Minister for Health Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath said that working with provincial governments, we will translate this commitment into practical action in schools, primary healthcare and communities, so that people can access support early, with dignity and respect. “Investing in mental health is a smart investment. Every dollar invested in addressing conditions including depression and anxiety yields four dollars in returns through better health and improved productivity,” said WHO Director General (DG) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “There is no shame in needing mental health support. Anyone can be affected at some point in our lives. WHO is committed to working with Pakistan and all countries to ensure that everyone has access to the mental health support they need, no matter where they live or who they are; because there is no health without mental health.” “Mental health and well-being are fundamental to children’s ability to learn, develop and thrive. We must put children and adolescents at the centre of mental health efforts, with greater focus on prevention, early identification, and care. As climate change and digital environments increasingly affect young lives, mental health resilience must be part of building a healthier, more resilient generation,” said UNICEF Representative in Pakistan, Pernille Ironside. Dr Syed Usman Hamdani, Director of the Global Institute of Human Development, said that Pakistan is undergoing a significant transformation in its mental health agenda. Through sustained investments in research, implementation science, policy development and community-based innovation, the country has demonstrated that effective mental healthcare can be delivered through primary healthcare, schools and communities using scalable, evidence-informed approaches,” said Dr Syed Usman Hamdani, Director of the Global Institute of Human Development. Pakistan aims to consolidate the Global Mental Health Summit as its flagship international platform for advancing mental health policy, implementation science, innovation and global partnerships, while promoting equitable, climate-resilient and future-ready mental health systems. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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Grindr is expanding its footprint in LGBTQ-focused healthcare with its first major acquisition. The dating app is paying $250 million for health startup Freddie , with the aim of fully integrating Freddie’s HIV-prevention telehealth and pharmacy capabilities into a broader Grindr Health offering. The launch of Grindr Health builds on the company’s telehealth business Woodwork, which launched in 2025 to connect users with medication for weight loss and erectile dysfunction. As of Wednesday, when the acquisition was announced, users can access features from both Freddie and Woodwork through a Grindr Health portal in the app. Grindr CEO George Arison has long credited the app as helping make HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which is 99% effective at reducing sexual transmission of HIV, more mainstream. As of 2025, the United States reached a record high of more than 644,000 PrEP users , a 10% increase from 2024. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 2.2 million Americans could benefit from PrEP—meaning the medicine is still reaching less than a third of its potential users in the country, and there’s a lot of room for Grindr’s new business to grow. “It’s a situation where everybody that can be on this drug should be on this drug, because it’s healthier for them and healthier for people that they meet,” Arison tells Fast Company . “To us, [PrEP access] seems like a natural opportunity and a win-win, to both build a great business as well as do something really important for public health,” he says. Adding a pharmacy to the gayborhood Arison says contracting HIV is “the one thing that all gay men are scared of,” meaning getting on PrEP should be common sense for the app’s users. But in a mirror to the U.S.’s broader statistics, Grindr reports that just 400,000 of its millions of American users identify as being on PrEP. “If we achieve the same market share in the U.S. on PrEP that Freddie has in Canada … that will mean 200,000 people on PrEP, and that will mean about 5,000 people not getting HIV a year,” Arison adds. With the most recent CDC findings showing an estimated 31,800 new HIV infections in the U.S. per year, that means Grindr could play a significant role in driving down HIV infections nationwide. Adding in more healthcare to complement Woodwork, which initially offered erectile dysfuynction medication and has since expanded to include GLP-1s, is part of Arison’s effort to make users—and investors—see Grindr as a “global gayborhood,” not just a place for hookups. The company has been building new features by leveraging AI to identify areas where tech can improve the user experience or offer them specific insights about people they might want to connect with. “Don’t think of Grindr as a dating product. Think of Grindr as a social network that has a very unique pulse on the user base,” he says. “Obviously, we needed to prove to everyone that that’s what we were. This is just a logical next step in that direction.” Good for health, good for business As Arison has been expanding his vision for Grindr’s role in its users lives beyond connecting with other people, he’s been improving the company’s revenue and subscriber base. In the second quarter of 2026, Grindr reported a revenue of $138 million, a 33% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, the app’s paying user base continues to grow, with a current 1.4 million users paying for Grindr features including its XTRA and Unlimited subscription tiers, up 16% from last year. Researchers at Morgan Stanley noted the clear rationale for Grindr’s acquisition of Freddie, with the app finding success in its earlier telehealth efforts through Woodwork and even before its launch, helping connect more than two million users with Mpox vaccines in 2022. The analysts also highlighted Freddie’s high earning potential for Grindr. The telehealth platform has higher gross margins than its peers, as Freddie generates revenue from referral fees to entities receiving federal discounts through the U.S.’s 340B Drug Pricing Program . With each active patient estimated to generate $4,800 in revenue for a full year, Arison sees the acquisition as a financial no-brainer as well. If the company achieves it’s baseline goal of 50,000 Grindr users getting PrEP through the app, it would generate $240 million in revenue annually. Moving forward, Arison says the acquisition sets the brand up “for a much broader Grindr Health vision.” One example? Putting users in touch with health professionals who are part of or experts on LGTBQ health. “I talk to so many people—myself included, honestly—who want a gay doctor and cannot get a gay doctor,” Arison says. “Over time, we can be in a place where we’re giving way more capability to our users to find gay doctors, and be able to connect with them virtually for their other healthcare needs.”

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October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and all month long, WPBF 25 is highlighting the disease and the steps being made to fight it.