Mental Health in Developing Countries
Approximately 450 million individuals worldwide suffer from mental illness or a brain disorder, but over half of all countries lack a specific mental health policy, and nearly a third lack a plan to deal with the rising tide of brain-related diseases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) published a significant study in October 2001 that incorporated these findings. The report, titled Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope, was the culmination of a year-long effort that included devoting World Health Day to the subject of mental disease in April of last year and publishing a detailed survey of the status of mental-health treatment in developing countries.
Statistics
The WHO also established Project Atlas, a global initiative to record mental health resources around the world. The project discovered in its initial survey that of the countries it surveyed:
There are 41% of people who do not have a mental health policy.
There is no mental health law in 25% of the states.
There is no distinct budget for mental health in 28% of cases.
In primary health care, 41% of people do not have access to treatment for severe mental illnesses.
There are no community health care facilities in 37% of the cases.
Mental hospitals account for about 65 percent of all beds for mental health treatment.
What causes mental illness in developing countries?
Poverty can be both a cause and a result of illness, and poor diet, unsanitary living circumstances, and a lack of access to health care can all contribute to brain diseases. According to the paper, "poverty and a variety of psychiatric diseases, such as depression, worsen each other" in many nations.
Many countries, according to the research, lack appropriately qualified medical and nursing personnel to deal with brain problems. "For example, nearly 3,000 psychiatrists and 565 neurologists serve a billion people in India, while 10 psychiatrists and 29 neurologists serve 11 million people in Zimbabwe," the authors stated.
How is stigma an issue?
Many brain illnesses, such as epilepsy, schizophrenia, and mental retardation, are stigmatised in underdeveloped nations, preventing people from seeking and obtaining adequate treatment. It may also lead to the loss of social and educational prospects for both the victims and their families.
For example, Depression is thought to be the greatest cause of disability worldwide, but because it is not recognised as a major disease in many countries, accurate statistics on its prevalence in poorer nations are lacking. According to the study, countries like Sri Lanka and China have the highest suicide rates in the world, but "completed suicides may be less likely to have obtained a psychiatric diagnosis in non-Western countries due to the paucity of mental health resources."
Works Cited
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