Dr. Shekhar Saxena

Dr Shekhar Saxena is the Programme Manager in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at World Health Organization, Geneva. He is a psychiatrist by training with about 25 years of experience in research and programme management in the areas of mental health service delivery and information systems, mostly in low and middle income countries. He was one of the writers of the World Health Report-2001 on mental health. He is responsible for the WHO's project Atlas including the reports on mental health resources, child and adolescent mental health resources, education and training in psychiatry. He also leads WHO Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS) being used in more than 80 countries. Dr Saxena is involved with the revision of ICD 10 mental and neurological disorders chapter. He co-ordinates WHO's work on prevention and promotion in mental health and WHO's activities in the area of mental health response to emergencies. He has authored or edited more than 200 publications including several books. He was one of the editors of the 2007 Series of papers on Global Mental Health in the Lancet.