The Republic of Hungary is a landlocked country of 93000 km2 in central Europe; it is bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. Its official language is Hungarian. Hungary joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. About 90% of the population of c. 10 million is ethnically Hungarian, with Roma comprising the largest minority population (6–8%). Currently classified as a middle-income country with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $191.7 billion (2007 figure), Hungary's total health spending accounted for 7.4% of GDP in 2007, less than the average of 8.9% among member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2009). The proportion of the total health budget for mental health is 5.1%, which is low when compared with, for instance, the UK (England and Wales 13.8%, Scotland 9.5%) (World Health Organization, 2008, p. 118, Fig. 8.1).

Hong Kong was a UK colony before 1997 but has since been a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It is located in southern China and has an area of 1104 km2. Approximately 95% of Hong Kong's population is ethnic Chinese. Hong Kong is a developed capitalist economy, with a gross domestic product of US$301.6 billion (2009 estimate), of which about 5.5% is spent on healthcare and about 0.24% on mental health (World Health Organization, 2005). Despite the relatively low level of spending on healthcare, Hong Kong nevertheless has one of the longest life expectancies in the world (79.2 years for men; 84.8 years for women) and a very low infant mortality rate (2.93 per 1000 live births) (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010).

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in central Europe with a population of over 5 million. The Czech Republic and Austria lie to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava; the second largest city is Košnice. Slovakia is a member of the European Union, the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization, among other international organisations. The majority of the inhabitants of Slovakia are ethnically Slovak (85.8%). Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority (9.5%). With a gross domestic product (GDP) of €63.3 billion in 2009, Slovakia is classified as a middle-income country. In that year total health expenditure represented 6.7% of GDP (Pažitny, 2008), 34% of which went on pharmaceuticals, the highest share among all OECD countries (World Health Organization, 2010).

The intense historical relationship linking Jamaica and Britain to 300 years of the transatlantic slave trade and 200 years of colonialism has left 2.7 million souls living in Jamaica, 80% of African origin, 15% of mixed Creole background and 5% of Asian Indian, Chinese and European ancestry. With a per capita gross domestic product of US$4104 in 2007, one-third of the population is impoverished, the majority struggling for economic survival. The prevailing religion is Protestant, although the presence of African retentions such as Obeah and Pocomania are still widely and profoundly experienced, and the powerful Rastafarian movement emerged as a countercultural religious force after 1930. The paradox and contradictions of five centuries of Jamaican resistance to slavery and colonial oppression have spawned a tiny, resilient, creative, multicultural island people, who have achieved a worldwide philosophical, political and religious impact, phenomenal sporting prowess, astonishing musical and performing creativity, and a criminal underworld that has stunned by its propensity for violence.

The Russian Federation is a country with an enormous territory, of over 17 million km2. Its population is 141.9 million (2010 figure). The population was declining, especially at the end of the 1990s, but in more recent years the tendency has been towards stabilisation. Life expectancy has remained relatively low, although it has increased somewhat over the past few years, to reach 67.5 years in 2008 (61.4 for men and 73.9 for women), up from 65.3 years in 2004 (58.9 for men and 72.3 for women).

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor) occupies the eastern half of the island of Timor, which lies north-west of Australia and within the eastern Indonesia archipelago. The population is approximately one million, of whom 45% are below the age of 15. Average life expectancy is 59.5 years and 50% of the population live below the national poverty line of US$0.88 per day. The official languages are Tetun and Portuguese, with Indonesian also used. The majority of the population are Catholic but also hold traditional animist beliefs.

Since the mid-1980s, a profound reform in the organisation of mental health provision has been taking place in Greece (Madianos & Christodoulou, 2007; Christodoulou, 2009). The aim has been to modernise the outdated system of care (Christodoulou, 1970), which was based on in-patient asylum-like treatment, the beginning of which can be roughly dated to the second half of the 19th century (Christodoulou et al, 2010).

The USA has the world's largest economy and the highest per capita spending on healthcare, but it lags behind other countries on a number of key health measures. It ranks 23rd in healthy life expectancy and 32nd in infant mortality (World Health Organization, 2009). In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked the US healthcare system as 1st in responsiveness, 37th in overall performance, and 72nd by overall level of health (among 191 member nations in the study).

Serbia is located on the Balkan peninsula, which served for centuries as a vulnerable crossroads between the East and the West. At the beginning of the 1990s, some of the republics of the former Yugoslavia, including Serbia, were involved in disastrous civil conflicts. In 2006 Serbia became a sovereign republic. At the 2002 census, its population was 7 498 000.

Ghana is a West African state that attained independence from Great Britain in 1957 and became a republican state in 1960. Its population is about 22 million (2004 estimate), distributed in ten regions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 650000 of the population are suffering from severe mental disorder and 2166000 are suffering from moderate to mild mental disorder (see www.who.int/mental_health/policy/country/ghana/en).

The delivery of mental healthcare in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire, is influenced by geography, politics, legislation and the structure of the health system, as well as traditional beliefs and culture.

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country which has recently emerged from some marked political and socio-economic challenges. Against this background, mental health has fallen down the priority list, as matters such as food shortages and the AIDS scourge have taken prece dence. Zimbabwe is in southern Africa; Zambia and Botswana lie to the north, Namibia to the west, South Africa to the south and Mozambique to the east. Its population is 11.4 million. The capital city is Harare, which has a population of 1.6 million.

There is limited information about stakeholder perceptions of health service provision in low- and middle-income countries. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 821 stakeholders of the community mental health services in Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania. The aim was to obtain systematic information about coverage, barriers, accountability and room for improvement as a baseline before implementation of a new mental health policy to strengthen mental health services.

Drug dependence treatment in Nigeria is at an early stage of development. The first ‘stand alone’ drug dependence treatment in-patient unit in Nigeria, the Drug Addiction Treatment Education and Research (DATER) unit, Aro, Abeokuta, Nigeria, was established in 1983. Prior to this, patients with drug dependence received care along with other patients in psychiatric wards and traditional healing homes (United Nations International Drug Control Programme, 1998). Currently, there is no national body in Nigeria actively involved in regulating or facilitating good practice in drug dependence treatment.

The estimated prevalence of alcohol misuse among Indian women is less than 5%. Misuse has been associated with the upper socio-economic classes, primitive tribal cultures and certain rural traditions. The problem of substance misuse in India has been underdiagnosed and underreported, but various health agencies and media reports suggest it is increasing.

Malta is an archipelago (with three inhabited islands) in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the 2006 census, Malta has a population of just over 400000 and is the eighth most densely populated country in the world (1272 persons/km2) and the most densely populated of the member states of the European Union (EU). The most densely populated town in Malta is Senglea, with 22744 persons/km2 (situated in the Southern Harbour Area). In comparison, Malta's sister island, Gozo, has a density of 422 persons/km2. Over 92% of the population lives in urban areas.

Suicide among Muslims and in Muslim countries is rare (Hocaoglu et al, 2007). Although much of the research has comprised simple descriptive studies, and despite the possible underreporting of suicidal behaviour in countries where such behaviour is illegal, suicide rates do appear to be lower among Muslims than among the followers of other religions, even in countries which have populations belonging to several religious groups (Lester, 2006). However, rates of attempted suicide do not appear to be lower in Muslims than in non-Muslims (Pritchard & Amanullah, 2007), possibly because although there are strong religious sanctions against suicide, there are no clear principles regarding attempted suicide.

Mumbai, India's largest city, also has the distinction of being the most populous city in the world. The association between urbanisation and mental illness has been widely documented (Harpham & Blue, 1995, especially pp. 41–60). Mumbai is characterised by dense slums housing large migrant populations facing stressful lives. The state of publicly funded mental health facilities in Mumbai has special significance in this context, since they are the only resource available to a large economic ally vulnerable section of the population. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the public mental health services in Mumbai and to identify areas for improvement.

The importance of traditional healing in low- and middle-income countries cannot be under estimated. It is generally perceived as part of the prevailing belief system and traditional healers are often seen as the primary agents for psychosocial problems in these countries; estimates of their service share range from 45% to 60% (World Health Organization, 1992). The World Health Organization (2000) estimated that 80% of people living in rural areas in low- and middle-income countries depend on traditional medicine for their health needs.

The elderly population is increasing all over the world, a trend expected to continue well into the next century, particularly in low-income countries (Levkoff et al, 1995). There is an established association between increasing age and cognitive decline (Fillenbaum, 1984) and dementias are common in this age group.