Global Mental Health: Are We Any Closer to Achieving Our Goals?

So how are we, nations, doing in our efforts to implement effective mental healthcare? This is a question the World Health Organization (WHO) posed through the 2017 Mental Health Atlas report, which collected data from 177 countries. The purpose of this report is to monitor mental health policies, laws, programs and services across WHO allied states, as well as track the progress of the WHO's Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020. This plan is comprised of four goals, such as that of human rights, universal health coverage, suicide prevention and health promotion, as well as regular state-sanctioned population health data collection. Questionnaires were sent to 194 WHO member states, with 177 being completed.

Overall, 123 nations reported having at least two functioning national, multisectoral mental health promotion and prevention programs. Out of nearly 350 programs implemented globally, 40% focused on improving mental health literacy within populations, while 12% targeted suicide prevention. In terms of governance, 72% of countries stated to have a standalone policy or plan in regards to population mental health, whereas 57% to have a standalone law for mental health. Approximately 90 countries also report instituting and updating regional and international policies and agendas aligned human right approaches.

Overall, public spending for the mental health sector tends to be less for low-middle income countries. More than 80% of mental health expenditures in these nations flow into mental health hospitals. The overall median for mental health staff is 9 per 100,000, rates tending to be much lower in low-income countries. Access to hospital beds is also an issue in low-income countries with the median being 7 per 100,000 versus 50 per 100,000 in high-income countries. This rate is particularly shocking for the rate of access to children and adolescent beds, with a rate of 0.2 in low and lower middle‐income countries to over 1.5 in high‐income countries.

Of course, not all countries contributed to this data and all that was given to the WHO was self-reported, so there are some limitations to this study. Nonetheless, these findings are a good indication of where we’re at in terms of improving mental health services and outcomes on the global level. It also highlights the collective action and efforts that must be undertaken by all nations if we hope to decrease the global burden of mental illness. The big question is: Will we succeed in accomplishing the goals outlined in the Mental Health Action Plan? According to the Atlas, we are accomplishing this slowly, but surely. Here’s to hoping we can accomplish much more in years to come.

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Source:

• Hanna, F., Barbui, C., Dua, T., Lora, A., van Regteren Altena, M., & Saxena, S. (2018). Global mental health: how are we doing?. World Psychiatry, 17(3), 367.