ABSTRACT
The last century witnessed considerable changes in the nature and pattern of child and adolescent health problems, significant among which is the unequivocal recognition of mental disorders as a source of childhood morbidity [1]. This recognition is not unconnected with emerging evidence from multinational epidemiological surveys that mental and behavioural problems among children and adolescents are common and a worldwide phenomenon [2]. Childhood mental disorders are also associated with significant distress to the child and a major burden to the society [3-5]. Though there is yet to be any conclusive evidence that childhood mental disorders are relatively more prevalent in low-resource countries, there
are indicators to suggest that the global burden of childhood mental health problems is likely to be concentrated in low-and middle-income (LAMI) countries. In the first instance, 85% of the world’s child and adolescent population live in the LAMI countries [6]. Secondly, the LAMI regions of world have poorer child-related social indicators [7], a situation which can increase the risk of childhood mental health problems [8].
