19. With regard to investment in mental health, the government
is the main provider of funds for care and treatment
of severe mental disorders in 77% of countries. Four
countries provided data on total government mental
health expenditure, including at least one from each of the
health system groups. The one group 1 country had an
annual per capita government mental health spending of
US$ 7.24, while the average spending for the two group 2
countries was US$ 1.35 and for the one Group 3 country
less than US$ 0.01. A tentative estimate of median government
spending on mental health in the Region is US$ 6.32
per person, which is very low in comparison with the global
median of US$ 72.57.
20. The average mental health workforce in the Region is 14.6
personnel per 100 000 population. This is less than half
the comparable global rate of 33.8 per 100 000 population.
Furthermore, in about one third of countries, more
than 85% of the mental health workforce is deployed in
mental hospitals. There was a substantial increase in the
mental health nursing workforce between 2011 and 2014
in group 1 and group 2 countries. The fall in numbers of
psychiatrists per 100 000 in group 2 countries, with an
increase in group 1 countries, suggests that sociopolitical