Access to Mental Health Care in South Asia: Current Status, Potential Challenges, and Ways Out (2024)

By: S. M. Yasir Arafat and Sujita Kumar Kar

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Synopsis: This book is about access to mental health care in South Asia. South Asia consists of eight countries with low and middle-income backgrounds. The region contains a combined population of about 2 billion, making up about a quarter of the global population. The people of this region share common cultures, beliefs, and behavioral patterns regarding physical and mental health. Among them, about 15% (about 300 million) have been suffering from common mental disorders. However, there is a persisting high treatment gap for mental illness in the region. Hence, despite having a mental illness, only a small percentage of the population is able to have access to essential mental healthcare. Though governments are trying to bridge the gap by improving mental health policies and programs, it is still a major challenge delivering mental healthcare to all people in need. Due to the income category and dual disease burden of the countries, there are some additional enduring challenges like poor funding and research, inadequate and inequitable manpower, huge out-of-pocket expenses, poor mental health literacy, income disparity, and high stigma. This book aims to highlight the issues related to accessing mental health services in a densely populated low and middle-income setting. This book is the first of its kind in comparing and contrasting the delivery status of mental health services in South Asian countries.