Making mental health a priority in 2023
Mental health has become a widely discussed issue in recent years but much remains to be done to ensure it is prioritised in the years ahead. On Tuesday 31st January, a panel of experts convened to share their perspectives on the actions that need to be taken to ensure mental health is made a priority in 2023.
Expert panel:
Farah Arabe - Founder, itotheN Consulting, GMHAN Advisory board, USA (Chair)
Dr Malek Guetat - President, Carthage Health Association, Tunisia
Oluwaferanmi Omitoyin - Youth Vice President, International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH), Nigeria
Donela Besada - Senior Research Scientist, South African Medical Research Council, South Africa
Elaine Flores, Research fellow in Planetary Health at the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Peru
Replay the session:
Session notes
The role of media and journalists
The issue of mental health reporting in Tunisia has been an ongoing challenge for many years. In 2015, there was a wave of suicides among children in the country’s periurban region, and the media was heavily criticized for its reporting on the issue. Many media outlets failed to follow the guidelines for reporting on suicide, which led to further harm for the victims and their families.
“For journalists to report on mental health without considering ethics and best practice guidelines is a behaviour”
The Carthage Health Association is collaborating with Deutsche Welle to design a new interdisciplinary mental health training curriculum for journalists in the Arab world to change this behaviour. The training program known as the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), will be based on a human rights approach, with the goal of creating a more supportive environment for good mental health reporting practices.
The curriculum will be freely accessible to journalists and will be designed to offer them the knowledge and skills they need to report on mental health in an ethical and responsible manner. Journalists will be further incentivised to adopt better reporting practises through the launch of 3 national rewards for the best media reports on public health.
Youth participation
Oluwaferanmi Omitoyin of the International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH) notes that the youth have a role to play as decision makers in these processes - participation in and of itself is not enough.
There are opportunities for young people to get involved in mental health advocacy that can include education programs in schools, and through involvement in government positions, says Oluwaferanmi. The IAYMH have empowered the youth to lead in this space by establishing youth positions in their Executive Committee and creating an advisory role for the selected members.
Young people with lived experience can provide peer support in local settings as part of wider community-based interventions. These interventions are proven to produce tangible results.
In developing countries where mental health literacy and awareness is limited, it is the responsibility of the youths in the community to find a way to ensure the younger generation are sensitised to these issues as they grow.
Not only is it important for the youth to educate the younger generation about mental health, but to also serve as cultural intermediaries for the elder generations, conveying information in a way that is culturally relevant, and also appropriate and acceptable.
The mental health investment case in South Africa
Even though mental health services in South Africa were receiving the recommended funding in accordance with the World Health Organisation’s guidelines, the country was still faced with a 90% treatment gap. A new mental health investment case has been designed to ensure that resources are being allocated efficiently, moving away from hospice-centric interventions, to achieve a better return on investment and close the treatment gap.
Donela Besada of the South African Medical Research Council explained that one of the preliminary challenges to this exercise was applying global return on investment (ROI) frameworks and methodologies to the South African context. She notes that the global ROI methodologies do not fully account for the baseline reforms and human resourcing that they would need to implement to actually produce the outlined returns. To address this, an expanded methodology was developed over a 15-year period to create a new return on investment portfolio and methodology.
The financing of South Africa's health system has also been hindering the country's progress towards achieving Universal Health Coverage goals. “Mental health is closely linked to many other health conditions,” says Deonela, acknowledging that it is vital to the success of the country's overall health system.
The country's efforts to implement the National Health Insurance (NHI) and invest in primary health care and community-based services are a necessary step to ensure it can provide high-quality care to all citizens, regardless of their financial status. The country has a long way to go to achieve its goals, but the development of the mental health investment case is a promising start.
Climate change impacts
The effects of climate change are not limited to physical impacts, but also have a significant impact on mental health. The relationship between the two is complex, and requires a holistic approach to effectively address the negative psychosocial impacts.
Elaine Flores of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine explains that there is a need for greater research in this space to better understand the mechanisms of these impacts, and the effects on vulnerable populations, particularly in countries that are at higher risk.
Collaboration between climate activists, mental health professionals, and other industries, such as journalism, is increasing and will help with the development and implementation of new approaches and preventative measures.
Community-based programs that promote resilience and address the psychosocial impacts of climate change can play a critical role in this, says Elaine. It is also important to consider the cross-sectoral aspects that must be addressed to fully understand the relationship between climate change and mental health.
This information will inform evidence-based policies and strategies for mitigation and adaptation and sustainable development programs, which will help to ensure that mental health is integrated into disaster reduction strategies and preparedness efforts. The global mental health community has a critical role to play in supporting these efforts, through collaboration and advocacy, to help ensure that the mental health of vulnerable populations is protected in the face of climate change.
LINKS
Learn more about itotheN here.
Learn more about Carthage Health Association here.
Learn more about the role of media in promoting/reducing mental health stigma in this Lancet Commission report.
Learn more about IAYMH here.
Learn more about South Africa’s National Insurance Bill here.
Download UnitedGMH’s UHC Toolkit here.
Learn more about a recent scoping review on climate change and mental health here.
Here is a policy summary on climate change and mental health from the Grantham Institute
Want to be on the panel of one of our upcoming webinars? Register your interest using this link!