by Xinran Xu
ABSTRACT
Currently, there has been a growing focus on public mental health across various countries. Despite this interest, there remains a significant shortfall in human resources and infrastructure for mental health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This shortage is worsened by systemic inequities in funding allocation, workforce distribution, and institutional support, all of which perpetuate disparities in service accessibility and quality. The aim of this article has been to analyze the overall situation and compare the differences in public mental health (PMH) work between high-income countries (HICs) and LMICs through a cross-sectional survey. By performing descriptive statistics, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) single factor test, correlation and regression analysis, We found significant differences between the two groups of countries in terms of the main barriers to increasing coverage of PMH interventions (p<0.001). However, no significant differences were found in the main content of PMH, the key opportunities of PMH, the frequency of staff contact with PMH organizations or the current training quality. The study also revealed a significant positive correlation between the extent of work that organizations undertook in key PMH areas, the frequency of staff contact with PMH organizations, and the quality of training, with significant differences between the two groups of countries. Therefore, we need to put more emphasis on mental health, improve resources, and strengthen monitoring of the situation in countries to promote global mental health.
