The global burden of mental health disorders

Sixty-six percent of people with dementia live in low- and middle-income countries, but only ten percent of population-based research is carried out in these areas, according to Professor Steve Iliffe (UCL Primary Care & Population Health). Professor Iliffe was emphasising the links between dementia and depression at a UCL Institute for Global Health symposium focusing on mental health and primary care in the developing world, held at UCL on 19 May. Michael King (UCL Mental Health Sciences), Professor of Primary Care Psychiatry, highlighted that low-income countries spend proportionately less on mental health care. For example, 12% of the UK's health budget is spent on mental health, but in many developing countries less than 1% of the health budget funds mental health care. He also noted that there are many different systems of mental health care globally, and countries such as Brazil and Chile are developing mental health systems in primary care, with marked effects. Irwin Nazareth (UCL Primary Care & Population Health), Professor of Primary Care & Population Sciences opened the symposium with an overview of primary care - the work of health professionals who act as a first point of consultation for patients. He outlined the history of primary care, reviewing the success of Alma Ata (the first international declaration underlining the importance of primary health care) and the Millennium Development Goals, before describing how primary care applied to mental health is implemented around the world and the range of barriers faced globally,.