BRIDGING GAPS IN MENTAL HEALTH: AN AGENDA FOR ACTION

Abstract

Mental disorders are highly prevalent and cause considerable suffering and disease burden all over the world. To compound this public health problem, many individuals with psychiatric disorders remain undiagnosed and untreated although effective treatments exist. The public health impact of mental disorders is profound as the estimated disability-adjusted life-years attributable to mental disorders have been shown to be very high.

Despite the growing evidence about the impact of mental illnesses, mental health services continue showing big gaps. There are clear differences in the practice of psychiatry around the Globe but the low income and developing countries witness more visible gaps in many areas of mental health care. Less number of mental health professionals, scarcity of mental health resources & now often facing additional problems of migration of trained psychiatrists and mental health professionals to the already resource rich countries, the situation gets even worse.

This paper presents an overview about the mental health gaps and their impact on the delivery of services. It is argued that there is no health without mental health and innovation, networking and basic training as well as better models of care using simple but effective paradigms need to be put in place for better health service.