A global initiative to measure the extent of mental illness around the world and identify some of the most effective treatments is unveiled in New York on Wednesday.
The Countdown Global Mental Health 2030 project is aimed at improving the sketchy data for illnesses like depression and anxiety, and establishing proper metrics so that countries can be compared with one another.
A scorecard will be produced every two years, so that the best performing countries can be held up as examples to the rest. The broad aim is to pinpoint successes and failures in treatment and encourage states – and donors – to invest in what works best to deal with illnesses that afflict hundreds of millions of people.
“When it comes to mental health, all countries are developing countries,” said Shekhar Saxena, a Harvard professor who is leading the project in conjunction with the World Health Organization, the Lancet and other civil society NGOs.
“There will be comparisons across countries and across time,” he added. “We need to measure how much progress we have made, and establish how we allocate resources.”
The problem is that information on the mental health of nations is patchy, unreliable and hard to compare from one country to the next, making it difficult to set targets. There are no blood tests or X-rays that identify these types of illnesses, and much of the data rests on self-reporting or extrapolation of surveys.
A tracker measuring the deleterious effect of disease on society – the global burden of disease – has operated since 1990, but its mental health component is shot through with uncertainty.
Some countries have relatively robust assessment approaches, including doctor surveys and cohort studies. But many poorer countries do not.
Additionally, the WHO collects information on services available in each country – the Mental Health Atlas – but here there are also big gaps.
Dévora Kestel, the WHO director of mental health and substance abuse, says the aim is a “more real mapping of the situation”.
“I am convinced that many countries are not even aware of the mental health burden in their population. So we need a stronger argument. If they do things that are doable in terms of funding they will be able to improve the mental health of the population – and also the economy of the country.”
The countdown metric is being unveiled at the “Goalkeepers” summit on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. Kestel said that if mental health needs were more accurately pinpointed it would help donors make more judicious investments to improve global mental health outcomes.
Victor Ugo, a Nigerian who set up a mental health self-help group in Nigeria because of the lack of services and treatments, said a clearer picture of the prevalence of illness – and the shortcomings of treatment – could spur the authorities into better responses.
“This will mean that we can see where we are – with data, policies and programmes and funding within the African states. That will help us demand better accountability and better systems.”
This article is part of a six-month global series on mental health. Get in touch with your mental health stories and suggestions at mentalhealth@theguardian.com