New project highlights global mental health needs

People with mental disorders in the developing world are not getting the help they need, the World Health Organisation warned today.

More than three-quarters receive no treatment or care, according to the latest figures.

Yesterday was World Mental Health Day and WHO sought to highlight the “huge treatment gap” for mental, neurological and substance use disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and epilepsy.

The programme, Mental Health Gap Action Programme (MHGAP), calls on governments to increase funding for basic mental health services. With extra resources, millions of patients could be given proper care, psychosocial assistance and medication.

MHGAP outlines a range of cost-effective strategies to meet its aim. These include assessing the needs of different countries, developing sound mental health policies, and increasing human and financial resources.

Dr Margaret Chan of WHO said: “Governments across the world need to see mental health as a vital component of primary health care. We need to change policy and practice. Only then can we get the essential mental health services to the tens of millions in need.”

Dr Benedetto Saraceno, a mental health expert at WHO, said: “We need to ensure that people with these disorders are not denied opportunities to contribute to social and economic life and that their human rights are protected.”

Improvement is possible, he added. For example, the national primary care programme in Chile now includes treatment of depression for all who need it, providing much-needed care to hundreds of thousands of people. In China, an epilepsy project has “achieved excellent results” at local health systems in 15 provinces, where tens of thousands of sufferers have been treated.

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