The 2021 World Mental Health Day campaign provides an opportunity for us to come together and act together to highlight how inequality can be addressed to ensure people are able to enjoy good mental health.
This theme will highlight that access to mental health services remains unequal, with between 75% to 95% of people with mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries unable to access mental health services at all, and access in high income countries is not much better. Lack of investment in mental health disproportionate to the overall health budget contributes to the mental health treatment gap.
Many people with a mental illness do not receive the appropriate medical treatment. Research evidence shows that there is a deficiency in the quality of care provided to people with a mental health problem. It can take up to 15 years before medical, social and psychological treatments for mental illness are delivered to the patients that need them in everyday practice.
They continue to experience stigma and discrimination .This not only affects that persons physical and mental health, stigma also affects their educational opportunities, current and future earning and job prospects, and also affects their families and loved ones
To top it in a country like India, Mental health illiteracy, lack of care professionals, and stigma make accessibility to mental health care worse and widens the care gap.
This inequality needs to be addressed because it should not be allowed to continue. We all have a role to play to address these disparities and ensure that people with lived experience of mental health are fully integrated in all aspects of life.