Editor—The World Health Organization in its World Health Report 2003 depicts graphically, in table 1.2, that the leading cause of disease burden for women aged 15 years and older worldwide in 2002 was unipolar depressive disorder.1,2 For men, the fourth, seventh, and eighth positions concerned mental health.
The inference from these data is obvious: mental health is in terrible shape. What amazes me is that easing the mental health burden is not even referred to tangentially.
Didn't the WHO at its very inception define health “as a state of complete physical and mental wellbeing” and then declare it a fundamental human right?
Competing interests: None declared.
References
- 1.Walt G. WHO's world health report 2003. BMJ 2004;328: 6. (3 January.) [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.World Health Organization. World health report 2003. Geneva: WHO, 2003.