Addressing youth mental health in Southeast Asia: a call to action with a spotlight on Malaysia
In Malaysia, 1 in 6 children aged 5–15 experience mental health difficulties, with this burden doubling between 2019 and 2023.1 Additionally, approximately 46% of youth report difficulties related to socialisation, including problems playing with others, making or maintaining friendships, or experiences of bullying; and 17% reported emotional difficulties, such as persistent worry, unhappiness, nervousness, clinginess, or being easily frightened. Clinical levels of depression have also been identified in 7.9% of individuals aged 16–19 years and 7.6% of those aged 20–29 years.
Authors
- Aisling Murray
- Fiona Samuels (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8709-1328)
- Paula Morgado (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7929-5961)
- Cláudia A. Lopes
- Prem K. Shanmugam
- Sharlini Palar
- Johanna Riha
- Nur Azmiah Zainuddin
- Koggelavani Muniandy
Institutions
- Ministry of Health (MY)
- Queen Mary University of London (GB)
- Friends United (US)
- HELP International Corporation (Malaysia) (MY)
- United Nations University-International Institute for Global Health (MY)
- Academy of Sciences Malaysia (MY)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific
- Published
- 2026-08-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2026.101972
- Primary Topic
- Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00