Mental Health Globally
Why mental health has been neglected in global health governance, how the burden of mental illness varies across the world, and what is changing.
The Hidden Crisis
Mental health conditions affect roughly one billion people worldwide. Depression is the leading cause of disability globally. Suicide claims over 700,000 lives per year, more than malaria, HIV, or armed conflict. Yet mental health receives a fraction of the attention and resources devoted to physical health conditions. On average, countries spend less than 2 percent of their health budgets on mental health. In low-income countries, there is approximately one psychiatrist per million people.
The neglect has deep roots. Stigma surrounding mental illness is pervasive in virtually every culture, discouraging people from seeking help and governments from investing in services. Colonial-era approaches institutionalized mental health patients rather than treating them in communities. The dominance of infectious disease on the global health agenda, from HIV to malaria to pandemic preparedness, has crowded out attention to non-communicable conditions including mental illness.
