Low And Middle Income Countries: A Comparative Analysis

When one thinks about health care in low and middle income countries, one usually does not think about the mental health care system. But the reality is, mental health care in low and middle income countries are far worse than it seems. In low and middle income countries, there may only be a doctor : patient ratio of 1: 1,000,000. This is not enough.
As stated by the WHO, (World Health Organization) (www.who.org) the WHO recommends $3-4 pppa (per person per annum) for mental health care in low and middle income countries. For low income countries, the WHO recommends $2 pppa. This is the amount of money saved for each person for mental health care. As Hannah Caddick states in "How Low-Income Countries Can Invest in Mental Health." (ODI Insights), the mental health care …show more content…
While $2 pppa seems like an insubstantial goal, most low and middle income countries are only reaching $0.2 pppa, which is 20 cents per person. The average treatment for anxiety (the least costly mental health disorder) costs $118.30 for a 30-day supply. At that rate, it would take 591 years to pay off one supply of anxiety medication on the allocated mental health funding. Clearly, this is much too little. And that is just for the anxiety medication. For a therapist specializing in substance abuse, it would cost $100-150 per hour. That would be $500-750 for 5 hours! $3-4 pppa would not be close to enough. In 2012, the United Kingdom government raised the budget for mental health care to $297 pppa, which equaled 19 billion, four hundred ninety five million,