Many leaders in Africa bemoan the disappearance of African culture, including the use of traditional medicines, and there have been numerous calls for recognition of their value and for the integration of these treatments into orthodox medicine. This is especially so with regard to psychiatric disorders. The literature on psychiatric practice in Africa contains very few references to herbal treatments, however, and more is to be learnt about the use of herbs as adjuvants in the solution of psychosocial problems from the anthropological literature. At a conference held in the University of Ife in 1974, psychiatric disorders were not included in a list of nine conditions (e.g. cancer) in which it was recommended that herbal treatments be further investigated.

The mission to find ‘the secret of the village’ is one attraction of engaging in mental health services in Bangladesh. Over the last 15 years much attention in world psychiatry has been given to the fairly robust finding that the prognosis of people with established and severe mental illness is better in ‘developing countries’ than in ‘developed’ ones (e.g. World Health Organization, 1979; Leff et al, 1990; Jablensky et al, 1992). Earlier assumptions that ‘developing’ is a simple variable were almost certainly a result of racist ignorance (Kulhara, 1994). Developing countries are not homogeneous. The variation in mental health outcomes seems to be clearer in more remote villages and tribal areas (Chatterjee et al, 2003), especially those that have less contact with Western (colonial) models of psychiatry and ways of life. More studies on this topic across a wider range of rural and urban settings would have much to offer. Is there something poisonous that comes with lots of expensive services? Or is there something missing?

Around three-quarters of the Singaporean population are of Chinese ethnic origin, and so traditional Chinese medicine is the most widely practised non-Western system of healthcare on the island.

Mongolia is a country with an approximate area of 1.5 million km2. Its population is 2.5 million, nearly 90% of whom are ethnically Mongolian. Khalkh Mongols form the largest subgroup (approximately 79% of the population); the next largest subgroup is the Kazakhs (5.3%), followed by smaller groups such as Tuvins, Uzbeks, Uighurs, Russian and Chinese. The population is young, with 35.9% under the age of 15 years. The official language is Mongolian. Just under half the population live in rural areas and around a fifth live a nomadic life. About 80% of the land area is suitable for agriculture, mostly for animal husbandry.

Following a 10-year war of liberation (fought by the Mau Mau against the British), Kenya attained full independence from colonial rule in 1963. For 10 years the country enjoyed rapid economic growth (6–7% per annum) but this slowed steadily to near stagnation in the 1990s. Poor governance, abuse of human rights, internal displacements of citizens, large numbers of refugees from neighbouring countries and the AIDS pandemic conspired to reduce Kenyans’ life expectancy to 47 years (in the UK it is presently 77 years). Some 42% of the population now live below the poverty line, and 26% of Kenyans exist on less than US$1 per day. The annual per capita income in Kenya is US$360 (in the UK it is $24 000) (World Bank, 2002). AIDS currently has an estimated prevalence rate of 12%. In large parts of rural Kenya many sexually active adults are unable to work, and elderly grandparents are left to look after orphaned children (some already infected with HIV), as they struggle to deal with their own grief for the loss of many of their own children. In December 2002 a new government was elected, which gives some grounds for optimism in an otherwise bleak situation.

Malaysia is a tropical country in the heart of South East Asia, at the crossroads of the ancient east–west sea trade routes. Although independent from British colonial rule only in 1957, it has a recorded history dating back to at least the first century CE, when the region was already the source of valuable mineral and forest produce that found markets in China, India and further west.

East Timor (the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste) occupies the eastern half of the island of Timor, which lies between North Western Australia and the Indonesian archipelago. East Timor has a population of around 860 000. It is predominantly rural and there are few large towns. The country has a largely subsistence agricultural economy; coffee is the principal cash crop. The population is extremely poor, and transport and communications are primitive.

The European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) assembles 29 national societies of child and adolescent psychiatry of several countries belonging to the European Union or to its cultural and geographical area. It is the only association that gathers European psychiatrists who work with children and adolescents.