ArticleEpidemiology and psychiatric sciences2017
Mapping actions to improve access to medicines for mental disorders in low and middle income countries.
Article in Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Availability of essential medicines for non-communicable diseases: a scoping review of challenges and opportunities.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- A gastric retentive robotic capsule enables emergency-prepared and responsive oral drug delivery in canine models.Science advances · 2025Article
- Ground-breaking change to the mental health section of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines: implications for low- and middle-income countries.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2024Article
- Mental health services in Gauteng, South Africa: A proxy evaluation using pharmaceutical data.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2024Article
- Essential medicines for mental disorders: comparison of 121 national lists with WHO recommendations.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2023Article
- Calling for policy actions to increase access to long-acting antipsychotics in low-income and middle-income countries.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2022Article
- Mapping the selection, availability, price and affordability of essential medicines for mental health conditions at a global level.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2022Article
- Medicines used in mental, neurological and substance use disorders in Gauteng, South Africa: A secondary analysis of the 2017-2018 provincial pharmaceutical database, Part 1.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2021Article
- On the need for epidemiology in psychiatric sciences.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2019Article
- Public health psychopharmacology: a new research discipline comes of age?Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2018Article
- Does mental health staffing level affect antipsychotic prescribing? Analysis of Italian national statistics.PloS one · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsIn recent years a number of intergovernmental initiatives have been activated in order to enhance the capacity of countries to improve access to essential medicines, particularly for mental disorders. In May 2013 the 66th World Health Assembly adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020, which builds upon the work of WHO's Mental Health Gap Action Programme. Within this programme, evidence-based guidelines for mental disorders were developed, including recommendations on appropriate use of medicines. Subsequently, the 67th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on access to essential medicines, which urged Member States to improve national policies for the selection of essential medicines and to promote their availability, affordability and appropriate use.
methodsFollowing the precedent set by these important initiatives, this article presents eleven actions for improving access and appropriate use of psychotropic medicines.
resultsA 4 × 4 framework mapping actions as a function of the four components of access - selection, availability, affordability and appropriate use - and across four different health care levels, three of which belong to the supply side and one to the demand side, was developed. The actions are: developing a medicine selection process; promoting information and education activities for staff and end-users; developing a medicine regulation process; implementing a reliable supply system; implementing a reliable quality-control system; developing a community-based system of mental health care and promoting help-seeking behaviours; developing international agreements on medicine affordability; developing pricing policies and a sustainable financing system; developing or adopting evidence-based guidelines; monitoring the use of psychotropic medicines; promoting training initiatives for staff and end-users on critical appraisal of scientific evidence and appropriate use of psychotropic medicines.
conclusionsActivating these actions offers an unique opportunity to address the broader issue of increasing access to treatments and care for mental disorders, as current lack of attention to mental disorders is a central barrier across all domains of the 4 × 4 access framework.
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