[Alma Mata] Fwd: [hifa2015] Global Mental Health: publications and events

[Tiago Villanueva]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Vikram Patel, India <vikram.patel at lshtm.ac.uk>
Date: 29-Jun-2007 16:49
Subject: [hifa2015] Global Mental Health: publications and events
To: HIFA2015 <HIFA2015 at dgroups.org>

Hi

This message is to announce the forthcoming launch of the Lancet Series on
Global Mental Health.

This comprises six articles documenting the evidence base for global
mental health, with a focus on low and middle income countries. The Series
culminates with a strident call for action to the global health community
to scale up services for mental disorders in these countries. The Series
has been developed by an international group of mental health and public
health experts, representing academic, policy and civil society
perspectives. In the first five review articles, the Series provides the
information and evidence base for global action on mental health. The
reviews demonstrate the high burden of mental disorders, the links and
interrelationships between mental disorders and other health conditions
and the relevance of mental health for the achievement of Millennium
Development Goals. The massive needs are juxtaposed with scarcity of
resources for mental health along with their inequitable distribution and
inefficient utilization. Evidence for the effectiveness of interventions
for treatment and prevention of mental disorders in low and middle income
countries is reviewed, demonstrating the encouraging evidence for low-cost
treatments for some mental disorders. The current state of mental health
systems in countries is presented, showing that in most countries mental
health services are woefully inadequate to meet the needs of populations.
The Series then systematically examines the barriers to improving
services. This evidence is utilized to make a call to scale up services
for mental disorders in all countries, but especially in low and middle
income countries. Estimates of likely financial resources necessary for
scaling up are provided; just $2 per person per year in low-income
countries and $3-4 in lower middle-income countries - modest compared to
scaling-up costs for other major contributors to global disease burden.
Indicators to monitor progress are suggested and research priorities to
assist scaling up are identified. The Series concludes that the evidence
and solutions for global mental health burden are at hand. What we need is
the political will, concerted action by a range of global health
stakeholders, and the resources to implement them. The time to act is now.
The launch event will be held in London on September 3rd in a full day
scientific and advocacy conference, with leading speakers to include Jeff
Sachs, the authors of the six series and leaders of major multilateral
agencies and NGOs. You can get more information on the Series, and on
registration for the event by emailing Renata Sousa
(renata.sousa at iop.kcl.ac.uk) or www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/imh [*]

Finally, another recent piece which may be of interest is a debate in PLoS
Medicine which considers affordable and feasible interventions aimed to
close the massive treatment gap for people with schizophrenia in
developing countries. Schizophrenia affects an estimated 25 million people
in low- and middle-income countries, with an average lifetime risk of
about 1%. The illness is associated with excess mortality from a variety
of causes. A 2001 Institute of Medicine report on mental illness in
developing countries found that in 1990, over two-thirds of people with
schizophrenia in these countries were not receiving any treatment
(http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10111.html) [**]. The report found no evidence
that the proportion of treated people in the developing world had
increased since 1990. There is now a debate among mental health
professionals in low-income countries over how best to improve patient
care. In this article, three psychiatrists give their different viewpoints
on the current status of treatment efforts for schizophrenia in the
developing world and the measures that can be taken to increase the
proportion of patients receiving treatment.

You can access the full text article from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17579508


Vikram Patel
Professor of International Mental Health &
Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Tropical Medicine
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Address: Sangath Centre, Porvorim, Goa, India 403521

HIFA2015 profile: Vikram Patel is a psychiatrist at the London School of
Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has a special interest in public health
aspects of mental health in developing countries. He is the author of
'Where There Is No Psychiatrist: A mental health care manual'.
vikram.patel AT lshtm.ac.uk

[Notes from HIFA2015 co-moderator: *The URL www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/imh was not
functional when I tried it just now, but I found details at:
http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/events/?id=510  **This 434-page book is available
free to read online; an Executve Summary pdf can be downloaded free at:
http://books.nap.edu/execsumm_pdf/10111.pdf  Best wishes, Neil PW]

*************************************************
THE HIFA2015 GOAL: By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an
informed healthcare provider. Join HIFA2015: Send your name, organization
and brief description of interests to HIFA2015-admin at dgroups.org
HIFA2015 email group website: www.dgroups.org/groups/hifa2015
Further info on HIFA2015: www.hifa2015.org


-- 
Tiago Villanueva

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