Atlas Nurses in Mental Health 2007

Even though mental health nursing is a critical issue for most countries, there has been very little published information about mental health nursing. This new publication from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) summarizes information on nurses and mental health collected from 172 countries around the world. 

The mental health nursing survey asked selected respondents within countries to report on nurses working in various mental health settings. The survey also collected information on the content and extent of both undergraduate and graduate level mental health training for nurses in countries. The report includes data summarizing information from countries grouped by geographic region and by country income levels.

In general, the difference in the number of mental health nurses per capita in low versus high income countries is substantial. Also, there are fewer community mental health facilities in low and middle income countries and a higher percentage of the mental health nurses work in mental hospitals in these countries.

The open-ended comments revealed serious concerns about mental health nursing in low and middle income countries. The overall conclusion is that there is not enough mental health service in primary care in the community and there are not enough nurses trained to provide mental health services