[afro-nets] MDG Goals ignore mental health

[Leela McCullough <leela@healthnet.org>]

Millennium Development Goals ignore mental health
-------------------------------------------------
14 September 2005
http://www.plosmedicine.org

Because the Millennium Development Goals fail to include the
goal of improving the mental health of the poor, the world may
not reach many of the goals, say researchers in an analysis pub-
lished today by PLoS Medicine.

Vikram Patel and Jaime Miranda of the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine say that there is compelling evidence that
in developing countries mental disorders are among the most im-
portant causes of sickness, disability, and, in certain age
groups, premature mortality.

In their analysis, they make the case that three of the goals
cannot be achieved unless mental disorders are also addressed--
these goals are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger (goal 1),
reducing child mortality (goal 4), and improving maternal health
(goal 5).

Poverty and mental disorders are linked, say Patel and Miranda--
poverty is a risk factor for mental disorders while these disor-
ders are themselves impoverishing (because of out-of-pocket
health care costs and loss of employment). Treating mental dis-
orders, they argue, would facilitate the conditions necessary to
rise out of poverty.

The authors explain why treating mothers with depression will be
crucial to achieving goals 4 and 5. Children of depressed moth-
ers are more likely to suffer "failure to thrive" (being under-
weight and stunted), and children with failure to thrive are
more likely to die.

Depressed mothers are also less likely to breastfeed, and their
children are more likely to suffer diarrhea (a major cause of
childhood death in poor countries) and less likely to get their
immunizations.

Depressed mothers are much more disabled and less likely to care
for their own needs, while suicide is a leading cause of mater-
nal death in developed countries.

"There is no health without mental health," say the authors.
"Advocacy is needed to challenge the nihilism of global health
planners regarding the role of mental health."

Citation: Miranda JJ, Patel V (2005) Achieving the Millennium
Development Goals: Does mental health play a role? PLoS Med
2(10): e291.

SOURCE: PLos
http://www.plosmedicine.org

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