Why Does Mental Health Not Get the Attention It Deserves? An Application of the Shiffman and Smith Framework

Abstract

Despite a high disease burden, mental illness has thus far not achieved commensurate visibility, policy attention, or funding. We apply the framework of Shiffman and Smith in order to understand the current position of global mental health with regard to generating funding and political priority. While significant progress has been made in terms of prioritising mental health globally, debates around the definition of mental illness, and the continued impact of stigma, remain. We make a number of recommendations to increase the visibility and policy priority of mental health as a global issue.

Citation

Tomlinson, M; Lund, C. Why Does Mental Health Not Get the Attention It Deserves? An Application of the Shiffman and Smith Framework. PLoS Medicine (2012) 9 (2) e1001178. [DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001178]

Why Does Mental Health Not Get the Attention It Deserves? An Application of the Shiffman and Smith Framework

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2012