WHO seeks care for mental health victims in developing nations

LAGOS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua)-- As the world marks the Mental Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that millions of people with mental disorders in the developing world were not receiving necessary treatment and care, according to the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday.

This were contained in a statement issued by the WHO in Abuja, the Nigerian capital city, stressing the need for urgently scaling up services for mental disorders.

The statement said more than 75 percent of people suffering from mental disorders in the developing world receive no treatment or care. The organization would launch a new program "Mental health Gap Action Program (mhGAP)" to highlight the huge treatment gap for a number of mental, neurological and substance use disorders.

According to the statement, across Africa for example, nine out of ten people suffering from epilepsy go untreated, were unable to access simple and inexpensive anticonvulsant drugs which cost less than five dollars a year per person.

It said the WHO is now calling on the governments, donors and mental health stakeholders to rapidly increase funding and basic mental health services to close this huge treatment gap.

The statement further said with proper care, psychosocial assistance and medication, tens of millions would be treated for mental crisis.

Some of the diseases include depression, schizophrenia and epilepsy.

The statement quoted WHO director general Margaret Chan as saying governments across the world need to see mental health as a vital component of primary health care.

"We need to change policy and practice, only then can we get the essential mental health services to the tens of millions in need," Chan was quoted saying in the statement.