preview

Global Health In Brazil Essay

Decent Essays

Global Health Mental health is a serious global issue, the percentage of untreated, undertreated and unrecognized mental health issues are prevalent. “The World Health Organization states that mental illness is 12% of the global burden of disease,” (Ghesquiere, Pinto, Rahman, & Spector, 2016). The U.S. is one of the most developed countries in the world and the numbers for treating mental health issues are the same as some less modernized countries. Brazil, for example, is one of the countries attempting to treat mental illness with their Unified Brazilian Health System (SUS), (Fretonani, Pires de Pires, Biff, & Duarte dos Anjos Scherer, 2014). Impact on Health in Brazil Brazil has a health system which is free to all citizens regardless of income. The SUS administers the Family Health Strategy (FHS), …show more content…

to its’ citizens. This service is income based and can be problematic to obtain. ACA is mandatory but not all citizens comply. This can make it problematic to receive services for medical or mental issues. It is difficult to get into a physician who accepts certain types of ACA insurance, thus making getting treatment that much harder, ("ACA," 2015). In the U.S., mental health services are mostly provided by the patient’s (PCP), (Illes, Grace, Nino, & Ring, 2015). The PCP can easily become distracted by the medical problems of a patient and may not listen to the mental issues which are present. This can make receiving any care for mental illness an obstacle which many will not pursue, (Illes et al., 2015). Serious mental illness (SMI) among citizens 18 or older is at 4.2% in the U.S. Individuals with SMI will die 10 years earlier than the general population. “Suicide in U.S. is 40,600 which is twice the annual rate of AIDS or homicide. Mental illness is the third costliest medical condition in terms of overall health care expenditure,” ("NIMH," 2015). Ethical

Get Access