Damian Santomauro of the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research and colleagues from Australia, the United States, and Switzerland conducted a global assessment of care for people with major depressive disorder (MDD) in 2021 across 204 countries and territories and concluded that less than one in ten patients receives adequate treatment. To assess this, the authors conducted a meta-regression analysis of existing studies and GBD datasets. Minimally adequate treatment was defined as pharmacotherapy (one month of medication plus four doctor visits) or psychotherapy (eight visits with any accredited specialist). The results were published in The Lancet Psychiatry.
The assessment found that in 2021, only 9.1 percent of patients with MDD received minimally adequate treatment globally—10.2 percent of women and 7.2 percent of men. Treatment coverage was highest in high-income countries (27.0 percent), and geographically in Australasia (29.2 percent). The lowest rates were in sub-Saharan Africa (2.0 percent), especially in Western Africa (1.8 percent). Seven countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden) had coverage above 30 percent, while 90 countries had coverage below five percent.
