Wednesday, March 2, 2011

[EQ] The mental health workforce gap in low- and middle-income countries: a needs-based approach

The mental health workforce gap in low- and middle-income countries: a needs-based approach

Tim A Bruckner, a Richard M Scheffler, b Gordon Shen, b Jangho Yoon, c Dan Chisholm, d Jodi Morris, e Brent D Fulton, f Mario R Dal Poz g & Shekhar Saxena e


Bulletin of the World Health Organization (BLT) Volume 89 Number 3, March 2011, 161-240

Available online at:  http://bit.ly/hpu6BH

“….To estimate the shortage of mental health professionals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).


Methods
We used data from the World Health Organization’s Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS) from 58 LMICs, country-specific information on the burden of various mental disorders and a hypothetical core service delivery package to estimate how many psychiatrists, nurses and psychosocial care providers would be needed to provide mental health care to the total population of the countries studied. We focused on the following eight problems, to which WHO has attached priority: depression, schizophrenia, psychoses other than schizophrenia, suicide, epilepsy, dementia, disorders related to the use of alcohol and illicit drugs, and paediatric mental disorders.


Findings
All low-income countries and 59% of the middle-income countries in our sample were found to have far fewer professionals than they need to deliver a core set of mental health interventions. The 58 LMICs sampled would need to increase their total mental health workforce by 239 000 full-time equivalent professionals to address the current shortage.


Conclusion Country-specific policies are needed to overcome the large shortage of mental health-care staff and services throughout LMICs….”

Author affiliations:

a Department of Public Health and Planning, Policy and Design, University of California, 202 Social Ecology I, Irvine, CA 92697-7075, United States of America (USA).

b Department of Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

c Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, USA.

d Department of Health Systems Financing, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

e Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

f Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

g Department of Human Resources for Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.


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[EQ] Graphical Statistical Methods for the Representation of the Human Development Index and its Components

Graphical Statistical Methods for the Representation of the Human Development Index and its Components

 

César A. Hidalgo

United Nations Development Programme

Human Development Reports Research Paper 2010/39 - September 2010

Available online PDF [74p.] at: http://bit.ly/b13htt

“….In this paper we introduce five graphical statistical methods to compare countries level of development relative to other countries and across time. For this, we use seven panels of data on the Human Development Index and its components, containing information on more than 100 countries for more than 35 years.

 

We create visual comparisons of the level of development of countries relative to each other, and across time, through five different visualization techniques:

(i) Rankings
(ii) Values

(iii) Distributions
(iv) Visual metaphors (The Development Tree), and
(v) Networks, by introducing the concepts of Partial Ordering Networks (PON) and Development Reference Groups (DRG).



The graphical exploration of both, values and distributions, show a saturation of both the education and life dimensions of the HDI, suggesting a need to extend the definitions of this components to include either more subcomponents, or completely new measures that could help differentiate between countries facing different development challenges.


The Development Tree and the Partial Ordering Network, on the other hand, are used to create graphical narratives of countries and regions. The simplicity of the Development Tree makes it an ideal graphical metaphor for branding the HDI in a multilingual setting, whereas Partial Ordering Networks provide a more organic way to group countries according to their levels of development and connect countries to those with similar development challenges.

 

We conclude by arguing that graphical statistical methods could be used to help communicate complex data and concepts through universal cognitive channels that are heretofore underused in the development literature…..”

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]
Washington DC USA

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
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