Mental Health in the World

According to WHO, 450 million people globally are affected by mental, neurologic, or behavioral problems at any one time and that approximately 873,000 people a year die by suicide. 

The leading cause for the number of years lost due to disability is major depression. A quarter of patients who visit healthcare institutions for various reasons have at least one mental, neurologic, or behavioural disorder that is not diagnosed by a physician and neither are they treated. Low and middle-income countries allocate less than 1 percent of total health expenditure to mental health. It is rather pitiful given the fact that many of the major mental disorders can be effectively treated with medication and therapy.

Neurological disorders have had effective treatments for a long time now. A significant roadblock to delivering these therapies to the appropriate patients is the scarcity of skilled personnel. 

Most sub-Saharan African countries have only a few psychiatrists. Most doctors practice in cities and do not give their services to the public sector or those living in poverty. Even if some do manage to see a professional psychiatrist or neurologist, not all among them can follow the treatment regimens. 

Surveys done on patients diagnosed with mental disorders and supposed to be following the treatment prescribed found that those living in poverty had an exponentially more difficult time sticking to the medication regimen as prescribed. Such findings were echoed in other medications such as insulin or ART as well. 

It seems that the poor face impediments in proper treatment on a variety of diseases, and not just in mental health. Some authorities are aiming to ameliorate this problem. They propose training more health workers to provide community-based support, counselingservices and referrals for people in need of crucial mental health services.

World Mental Health: Problems and Priorities in Low-Income Countries offers a comprehensive analysis of the burden of mental, behavioral, and social problems in low-income countries and relates the mental health consequences of social forces such as violence, dislocation, poverty, and disenfranchisement of women to current economic, political, and environmental concerns.