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Investigations into gender differences in the epidemiology of common mental disorders have highlighted the fundamental role of socio-economic factors as the key determinants in experiencing mental ill health and access to treatment. Women are almost always at a socio-economic disadvantage across cultures throughout the world and as a result experience mental health inequality. This disparity in control over their socio-economic determinants is even more stark in the Middle Eastern and North African region. This region has additionally also cultural and legal conditions that make women empowerment and access to health difficult. Qatar launched an ambitious National Health Strategic program and identified women's mental health as a priority. This paper describes the development of a gender aware mental health service in Qatar, first of its kind in the region. It describes the challenges that exist in the region when attempting to develop such a service and some challenges that are unique to Qatar. This paper sets out a template of important principles that will be valuable for countries in the MENA region and beyond to develop evidence-based gender aware service that focuses on female empowerment and better mental health outcomes., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Qatar has experienced exponential economic and healthcare infrastructural development recently. Mental health has been prioritized for development by the state with the launching of the ambitious National Mental Health Strategy in 2013 which incorporates the development of specialist Forensic psychiatry services. Traditionally, some aspects of forensic psychiatry care were provided under general psychiatry, being largely reactive. The new strategy supported the development of specialist Forensic service with a focus on developing safer communities, preventing victimization and supporting the criminal justice system. We provide an overview of the development of this service in Qatar, one of the first of its kind in the region., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)