El Grupo Asesor CSEM

Ali began his Civil Society journey as the advocacy program manager at Taskeen Health Initiative in Pakistan, a grassroots mental health advocacy, awareness and support organisation. During his time there, Ali helped found and served as secretariat coordinator for both the Pakistan Mental Health Coalition and the South Asian Union for Mental Health.

Ali spearheaded United for Global Mental Health?s efforts to integrate mental health into Universal Health Coverage, developing partnerships with key stakeholders in global health to ensure the meaningful inclusion of mental health in the political declaration of the UN high-level meeting on UHC in 2023.

He currently leads UnitedGMH?s work on their strategic pillar on rights, focused on the deinstitutionalisation of mental health care, bringing mental health legislation in line with international human rights standards and the decriminalisation of suicide. During Ali?s time working on this project and due to the excellent work of several of UnitedGMH?s national
partners, suicide has been decriminalised in Pakistan, Ghana, Guyana and Malayisa.

Ali serves as co-chair of both the UHC and the suicide prevention working groups of the Global Mental Health Action Network, a network of close to 4000 members from around 150 countries and is keen to bridge the gap between their needs and the global discourse on health.

He is a Barrister and prior to working in mental health advocacy, Ali served as head of the legal department at a private sector multinational company and as managing partner at a law firm for 5 years.