Mental health
Achieving the millennium development goals: does mental health play a role?
No health without mental health: so why is it missing from the millennium development goals?
Authors:
J. J. Miranda; V. Patel
Publisher:
Public Library of Science Medicine , 2005
This paper from the journal PloS Medicine notes that mental health is absent from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, it cites evidence which indicates that mental health-related conditions, including depressive and anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, and schizophrenia, contribute significantly both to the number of years lived with disability and lost due to disability in developing countries. It highlights further research which shows that poor mental health is closely linked to social determinants, notably poverty and disadvantage, as well as to HIV and AIDS and poor maternal and child health.
The paper emphasises that mental health has an integral role to play in achieving the MDGs, and further argues that mental disorders can be effectively and affordably treated at local level. It calls for a broader approach to national health targets, with the focus on strengthening health care systems. It also suggests indicators, including rates of depression and suicide, which could be used to monitor the mental health of target populations. It calls for more research and more opportunity for local voices from developing countries to acknowledge their own mental health needs, and urges global mental health advocates to reinforce the message that there is no health without mental health.
