Dr. Shekhar Saxena on the Pandemic’s Impact on Mental Health Across the World
Air Dates: November 15-21, 2021
Since early 2000, the world has become familiar with the impacts of COVID-19: isolation, mask-wearing, and, for far too many, disease and death. Dr. Shekhar Saxena says there’s another impact we are just beginning to grapple with: the way the pandemic has affected global mental health.
Saxena is Professor of the Practice of Global Mental Health at the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He served in the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1998 to 2018, and served as the Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse from 2010 to 2018. In 2017, he received the prestigious Leon Eisenberg Award from Harvard Medical School. Saxena is the author of more than 350 academic papers. He served as the editor of the Lancet Series on Global Mental Health 2007 and 2011 and the Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development 2018. He advises policymakers on prevention and management of mental, developmental, neurological and substance use disorders and suicide prevention, and is an active contributor to Harvard’s Global Mental Health initiative.
On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Saxena discusses the importance of prioritizing mental health on a global scale as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve.
Story in the Public Square” continues to broadcast each week on public television stations across the United States. A full listing of the national television distribution is available at this link. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. ET, and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a partnership between the Pell Center and The Providence Journal. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.