BANGLADESH: Treatment gap for mental health problems
02 Aug 2011 09:59
The survey focused on the growing issue of mental health in children and found mental illness is more common among children in rural areas than in cities. As many as 17.5 percent of rural children have a mental illness, compared to 14.3 of city children, it said.
The predominant affliction is depression and the main obstacle is stigma, explained Omar Rahman, a psychiatrist in Bangladesh and also an associate professor of epidemiology and demography at Harvard University.
"People do not consider mental health as a disease like other diseases. Moreover, people with mental disorders do not go to hospitals as they think it will hamper their social dignity," Rahman said.
"The number of human resources is completely insufficient for the huge population in Bangladesh. The human resources have to be increased to reduce the treatment gap," Rahman said. Currently there is less than one psychiatrist for every one million Bangladeshis.
In 2006 mental health policy, strategy and planning came under the surveillance and prevention of non-communicable diseases. At the time a draft version of the Mental Health Act was elaborated, but it has yet to be approved and enacted, Rabbani said.
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