id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
hls-736	Olugbile, Olufemi B.; Coker, Ayodele O.; Zachariah, Mathew P.	Cost of treatment as a barrier to access and continuity of healthcare for patients with mental ill-health in Lagos, Nigeria	2013	3	.pdf	application/pdf	3076	152	54	Mental health disorders, espe- cially the severe forms, are regarded as prob- lems for the society.11,15 Studies focusing on the issue of cost and access to mental health care were mostly car- ried out in the developed countries of the world. Local studies have shown that doctors at primary care levels show little interest or apti- tude for diagnosing mental disorder or carry- ing out interventions.4,8-11 Other identified fac- tors preventing access to mental health care by patients in LAMICs include cultural perception about the nature and origin of mental disorder, social stigma attached to mental illness and the logistics of travelling long distances to the few general hospitals with psychiatric facili- ties or specialist psychiatric hospitals.1,4,6,8,9 However, the most reported important barri- er to mental health care is finance.1,4,6,8,9 In a country such as Nigeria and many other sub- Saharan countries, evidence shows that about 45% to 60% of the population lives below the poverty line.12 Therefore, it stands to reason that if individuals suffering from mental disor- ders in LAMICs cannot relatively afford quality mental health care, it is expected that govern- ments from these countries should provide free mental health care services or subsidize the cost of mental health care.	cache/hls-736.pdf	txt/hls-736.txt