Three out of four people with mental health conditions in low- and middle-income countries do not have access to needed mental health treatment. Even in high-income countries, this figure is relatively high at 35-50 percent, according to a WHO study.
People with severe mental health conditions also are less likely to receive treatment for physical health conditions. People with schizophrenia are 40 per cent less likely to be hospitalised for ischaemic heart disease, compared with people without mental health conditions who suffer from the same heart problem. Case reports indicate that in many low- and middle-income countries, people in psychiatric hospitals lack access to basic health care including general health examinations, dental care, vaccines, medications, and treatments for cuts and bed sores.
The disturbing findings are from a new World Health Organization (WHO) report on mental health and development ― Targeting people with mental health conditions as a vulnerable group ― which was launched earlier this week at the United Nations in New York.
Across a broad range of countries, the report revealed, treatment rates for mental health conditions are much lower compared to those for physical health problems. There are large treatment gaps since almost one third of countries worldwide do not have a budget for mental health services, and a further one fifth of countries spend less than 1 per cent of their total health budget on mental health services.
Moreover, many governments in developing countries require individuals to pay for mental health treatment, even when treatment for physical ailments is provided free of charge or covered by health insurance. This disparity disproportionately affects poorer people.
"A greater attention from the development community is needed to reverse this situation," Dr Ala Alwan, Assistant Director-General for Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health at WHO, said in a statement. "The lack of visibility, voice and power of people with mental and psychosocial disabilities means that an extra effort needs to be made to reach out to and involve them more directly in development programmes."
More than 450 million people suffer from mental disorders. WHO estimates 151 million people suffer from depression and 26 million people from schizophrenia; 125 million people are affected by alcohol use disorders. As many as 40 million people suffer from epilepsy and 24 million from Alzheimer and other dementias. Around 844 thousand people die by suicide every year. In low-income countries, depression represents almost as large a problem as does malaria (3.2 per cent versus 4.0 per cent of the total disease burden), but the funds being invested to combat depression are only a very small fraction of those allotted to fight malaria.
People with mental health conditions experience extremely high rates of physical and sexual victimisation. Even in a country like the US, it was found that compared to the general population, people with mental health conditions were 11 times more likely to be targets of violent crime (completed or threatened violence), and 140 times more likely to be victims of personal theft. Afar away in Australia, 88 per cent of those admitted to a psychiatric ward had experienced victimization at some point in their lives: 84 per cent having experienced physical assault, and 57 per cent having experienced sexual assault.
