Mental disorders are common and disabling. At any given time worldwide about 1 person in every 10 is suffering from a mental disorder, and about 1 in 4 families has a member with a mental disorder. Mental, neurological and substance use disorders combined account for a considerable proportion of the disease burden and as much as a fifth of years of life lived with disability. While effective pharmacological and psychosocial treatments are available and can be successfully applied in low-income countries, the vast majority of people with a mental disorder in these countries do not receive treatment (1). The treatment gap, of people who require care but do not receive it, has been estimated to range from 76% to 85%. This gap in provision of care can be attributed not only to lack of resources but also to inefficient allocation of available resources. Globally, most countries spend less than 2% of their health budget on mental health, which typically falls well short of the US$ 3–4 per capita needed for a selective package of cost-effective mental health interventions in low-income countries and the up to US$ 7–9 per capita needed in middle-income countries (1,2).