ReviewGlobal health action2014
Closing the mental health treatment gap in South Africa: a review of costs and cost-effectiveness.
Review in Global health action, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 115 citations in OpenAlex.
- Unexplored avenues: a narrative review of cognition and mood in postmenopausal African women with female genital circumcision/mutilation/cutting.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Pooled it
- A cluster-randomized trial of interventions for adolescent mental disorders in Zimbabwe.BMC psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Prevention of violence against women and girls: A cost-effectiveness study across 6 low- and middle-income countries.PLoS medicine · 2022Trial
- Examining the length of hospital stay and associated factors in adult patients with schizophrenia.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2026Article
- Cost and Budget Impact of Layering Depression Care Onto Existing HIV and Noncommunicable Disease Care Services in Western Kenya.Value in health regional issues · 2025Article
- Article
- Self-Guided Smartphone App (Vimbo) for the Reduction of Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in South African Adults: Pilot Quantitative Single-Arm Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Return-on-investment of a mental health intervention for war-affected youth in Sierra Leone.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- Adolescent mental health in sub-Saharan Africa: crisis? What crisis? Solution? What solution?Global health action · 2024Article
- Prevalence and correlates of common mental disorders in people living with HIV in primary health care facilities in Ekurhuleni district.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2024Article
- Ramadhan fasting for people living with chronic illness: A narrative literature review.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2024Review
- Comparing the medication costs of treating patients with schizophrenia who use cannabis with those who do not.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2024Article
- A response to criticism of the global mental health movement. How polarization can be overcome in theory and in west African social psychiatric practice.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2024Review
- Changes in patient-reported outcomes during admission to a South African psychiatric facility.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2024Article
- Health effects of caregiving and coping with severe mental disorders: A caregivers' experience.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2024Article
- Time trends in anxiety disorders incidence across the BRICS: an age-period-cohort analysis for the GBD 2021.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Mental health implications of suicide rates in South Africa.World journal of clinical cases · 2023Review
- The Economic Burden of Chronic Diseases with Co-Occurring Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder for People in the Western Cape, South Africa.SSM. Mental health · 2023Article
- Article
- The road to recovery: Financial resilience and mental health in post-apartheid South Africa.SSM - population health · 2023Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNearly one in three South Africans will suffer from a mental disorder in his or her lifetime, a higher prevalence than many low- and middle-income countries. Understanding the economic costs and consequences of prevention and packages of care is essential, particularly as South Africa considers scaling-up mental health services and works towards universal health coverage. Economic evaluations can inform how priorities are set in system or spending changes.
objectiveTo identify and review research from South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa on the direct and indirect costs of mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders and the cost-effectiveness of treatment interventions.
designNarrative overview methodology. RESULTS AND
conclusionsReviewed studies indicate that integrating mental health care into existing health systems may be the most effective and cost-efficient approach to increase access to mental health services in South Africa. Integration would also direct treatment, prevention, and screening to people with HIV and other chronic health conditions who are at high risk for mental disorders. We identify four major knowledge gaps: 1) accurate and thorough assessment of the health burdens of MNS disorders, 2) design and assessment of interventions that integrate mental health screening and treatment into existing health systems, 3) information on the use and costs of traditional medicines, and 4) cost-effectiveness evaluation of a range of specific interventions or packages of interventions that are tailored to the national context.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.