Basic Needs, an international NGO report that ‘mental health problems account for almost 13% of the world’s total disease burden, affecting up to 450 million people worldwide at any one time, andmake upover a quarter of theyearspeople live withdisability. As highlighted in the latest Global Burden of Disease Report, depression is projected to be the leading burden of disease by 2030.Currently75 percent of people living with mental illness reside in the developing world and only 10 to 20 percent of these people receive any form of treatment.
The cost to the world economy is some US$2.5 trillion per year in reduced economic productivity and physical ill-health, yet the amount invested in treating mental health problems is very small – less than 2% of health spending in most low and lower-middle income countries. In international development efforts, mental illness and epilepsy have, until very recently, taken a back seat to physical health; often being underfunded, misunderstood and considered taboo.’
Source: Basic Needs International
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