KATHMANDU: The SAARC regional civil society consultation that concluded today in the capital has urged for scaling up mental health programmes in equal footing with other physical health concerns. The consultation started on September 18. Speaking on the closing ceremony, Anand Grover, UN special rapporteur on the right to health, said he was going to raise the voice of the mentally ill at international fora. He also opined that social stigma and illiteracy remain one of the major hurdles in changing the perspective of general people towards the illness. Talking to The Himalayan Times, Grover said that the government of many countries were not accepting mental illness as major agenda of health, let alone Nepal. According to WHO, one percent of the world population is mentally ill and the number is even higher in South Asian countries because of social stigma. Studies revealed that nations tend to spend only a solitary per cent on mental health.