Development Ratings

BasicNeeds was registered in 2000, formed by Chris Underhill with the support of two UK charitable trusts.

About 220 million people in developing countries suffer from a mental illness or neurological condition. In the developing world, malnutrition and poverty in general can affect the coping mechanisms and mental health of adults, and the cognitive development of infants and children. Extreme stressors, such as disaster or conflict, are major risk factors for mental health problems for people of all ages.

An inability to cope with daily life or earn a living, both for the sufferer and the carer, is a disablement that clearly imposes a cycle of poverty. Many people who develop mental illness are subject to stigma, abuse or discrimination, a violation of their human rights. They often do not have access to treatment. A WHO study found that neurological disorders were responsible for about 1% of deaths worldwide, but about 11% of the disease burden. Depression can be reliably treated in ~80% of cases. Less than 25% of those affected in developing countries have access to treatment, due to stigma, and lack of resources and trained personnel. Traditional views on curses and witchcraft undermine knowledge about treatment. Stabilisation of mental disorders can improve other chronic medical conditions, reduce violence, injuries, and premature death, and improve human rights and community social and economic development. Often medications supplied by government ministries are the cheaper, out-date and poorly effective drugs that have significant side effects.

Mental illness can cause disability, reducing proper functioning and productivity. James Wolfensohn, the former President of the World Bank, has said “Unless disabled people are brought into the development mainstream, it will be impossible to cut poverty in half by 2015 (the Millennium Development Goal) or to give every girl and boy the chance to achieve a primary education”. Disabled people suffer disproportionately from poor access to treatment, lack of education and opportunities, discrimination, and traditional and cultural taboos.

The issue of definition exacerbates the problem of measuring the numbers affected: in a WHO report, estimates of people with mental illness in the target countries range from 0.43% of the population in Kenya to 5.8% in India – this is unlikely to be due to inherently diverging conditions but more to data collection and classification differences. The diagnoses can range from depression through to schizophrenia. One estimate of mental disorders in the UK has been given as 20% or 12m people. In the UK, comparable figures to those in the table below are: 11 psychiatrists/ 100,000 people; and 5.8 psychiatric beds/ 10,000.

BasicNeeds is the only UK-registered overseas development charity specifically targeting mental illness. It works with the health ministries of the target countries and is often the only other organisation doing so.