With the wars and destructive long occupations, large and small, the growing devastating natural disasters, these add to the problem of the help many really need and are not getting!
LONDON, 18 October 2011 (IRIN) - Four years ago the London-based medical journal, The Lancet, published a special series on global mental health, highlighting the gap in provision between rich countries and the rest of the world. Even in developed countries it is estimated that only one in three people with mental health problems receives the treatment they need; in low- and middle-income countries it may as low as one in 50.
Since the initial report, a new coalition has been formed, the Movement for Global Mental Health, to press for the scaling-up of treatment.
In a keynote paper for the new Lancet report, a Nigeria-based psychiatrist, Julian Eaton, with colleagues from India, Uganda, the UK and the World Health Organization, note “some improvement in awareness of mental health issues among leaders in the past three years”.
Yet, they say, “about 40 percent of respondents, from 26 countries, identified continuing poor awareness and low priority or poor commitment by political leaders as major barriers to the development of mental health services”.
One informant from Liberia told them, “There appears to be a disconnect in government, regarding expressed interest and support for mental health services… and resource availability and policy implementation.”
Another frustration is a disregard for the evidence of what works - that devolved services and “deinstitutionalization” provide the best outcomes; large psychiatric hospitals continue to dominate care in many low- and middle-income countries. read more>>>
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