The future of psychiatry in low- and middle-income countries.
The great shortage, and inequitable distribution, of psychiatrists in low- and middle-income countries is one of the key reasons for the large treatment gap for people with mental disorders. Psychiatrists need to play a public mental health leadership role in increasing the coverage of mental health care through task shifting of effective interventions to non-specialist health workers. Psychiatrists' new roles should include designing and managing such programmes, building clinical capacity, supervision and quality assurance, providing referral pathways and research.
Patel
V
V
D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003906:Developing Countries; D005544:Forecasting; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000639:trends; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000639:trends; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007857:Leadership; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D010819:Physician's Role; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000639:trends*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D006113:United Kingdom; D000078329:Workforce