Making Mental Health A Regional Priority
This World Mental Health Day, we’re championing mental health as a universal human right. Speaking at the 2023 Global Summit for Mental Health Advocates, SDGHI's Dr Anne-Claire Stona touches upon what is being done to make global mental health a regional priority.
Mental health has long been a neglected global health issue.
The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 4 people in the world will be affected by a mental or neurological disorder at some point in their lives, with more than 215 million people affected in the Western Pacific region, and 150-200 million people afflicted in South Asia.
In Singapore, the 12-month treatment gap, or the percentage of people who require treatment for an illness but who do not receive it, is 79%. In less-developed countries, that number ranges anywhere between 76% and 85%.
“Despite a high epidemiological and financial burden, change is not happening fast enough in the mental health field,” said Dr Anne-Claire Stona, Research Fellow at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute. “A recently concluded study by Dr Eric Finkelstein from Duke-NUS Medical School found that the burden of depression and anxiety costs in Singapore amounted to a whopping 16 billion Singapore dollars a year.”
The Mental Health Innovation Network (MHIN) aims to champion knowledge synthesis and exchange, nurturing the growing commitment within the global mental health community to develop, test, and implement ‘innovations’ focused on mental health promotion, prevention, and treatment. With existing hubs in Latin America and Africa, the Asia hub is the newest addition to the network.
“As the hosts of the MHIN Asia hub, SDGHI’s priority is to work with Asian sub-hubs to cater to wide regional diversity,” said Dr Stona. This will be done by synthesising knowledge, disseminating evidence generated by mental health research and innovation initiatives throughout Asian countries, promoting the uptake of this evidence in policy and practice, and raising engagement, visibility and access to each organisation, project, and activity.
“Already, we have some exciting projects lining up,” said Dr Stona. “In line with the development of the MHIN Asia hub, we have received funding to conduct a landscape assessment of existing innovations in South and Southeast Asia. This comprises a review of the literature, stakeholder interviews and surveys, and a workshop. We’re looking forward to establishing new connections and bringing together a pool of mental health advocates.”
We are delighted to invite you to join our new regional network! Share your contact details with us here. By doing so, you will receive updates regarding the launch of the Asia web platform and other important information.