The study, which appears in The Lancet Psychiatry, states that for every rand invested in scaling up treatment for depression and anxiety, a R4 return in better health and ability to work is secured.
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That’s the conclusion of a study led by a World Health Organization (WHO) researcher on projected global mental health cost savings from heightened awareness about effective treatment methods. Furthermore, mental illnesses cause “a lot of death and a lot of disability”, WHO’s Dr. Shekhar Saxena told NPR. The estimated costs of scaling up treatment, primarily psychosocial counselling and antidepressant medication, amounted to 147 billion USA dollars. The WHO estimated that treating anxiety and depression could lead to a five percent increase in participation and productivity in the labor force. 1 in 3! Do you know how many people that equates to worldwide?!
Smith continued: “I’m so sick of the fact that it’s 2016 and there is still so much stigma around mental health”.
WHO now has several programs in place to assess countries’ mental health resources, and deploys trained professionals to assist people in emergency situations.
“This is not just a public health issue-it’s a development issue”, Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group, said in a release. “We need to act now because the lost productivity is something the global economy simply can not afford”, he said in a statement. Close to 10 percent of the world’s population is affected and mental disorders account for 30 percent of the global non-fatal disease burden. According to statistics in the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2014, the average government spends only about three percent of their budget on mental health. That figure will likely increase given that almost 20 percent of people involved in emergencies or humanitarian crises, like the Syrian conflict, experience depression or anxiety.
“…This week, the World Bank and the World Health Organization are convening hundreds of doctors, aid groups, and government officials to start an ambitious effort to move mental health to the forefront of the global development agenda”.
Nations that have improved their mental health care, such as Brazil, Ethiopia, and South Africa, will present their stories, discussing their particular challenges and solutions. “One of the innovations that we have introduced is to include mental health as one of the chronic conditions that is provided as part of comprehensive chronic care”, he said. The research seems to suggest that although investing in mental health services and treatments can be costly, the economic benefits far outweigh the costs. “We need to provide treatment, now, to those who need it most, and in the communities where they live”.
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Last year, as enshrined in 17 Sustainable Development Goals, world leaders included mental health in an ambitious plan to eradicate poverty and inequality by 2030. They say that 1 in 3 people will suffer with a mental illness at some point in their life.
