#InTheEyesOfMC: Mindful Labour. The Business of Healthcare (Part 2)

PS: Part One of #InTheEyesOfMC "The Business of Healthcare" piece can be found here

Happy New Month, Happy Labour Day and Happy Mental Health Awareness Month if you are in the USA. According to Mental Health America, the theme of Mental Health Awareness Month 2023 is “Look Around, Look Within,” and this piece will aim to do just that.

In my previous piece, I highlighted key areas that I believe guide the business of healthcare, this includes:

1. What is your ROI (Return on Investment)?
2. What is your Anchor?; What is your Brand?
3. Teamwork makes the dream work
4. Youth Friendly Business Services

Seeing as we are commemorating Mental Health Awareness Month, I will use a mental health-related example to bring to the fore my four key areas.

ROI-ng Towards Mental Health For All: A Reminder That "There's No Health Without Mental Health."

Mental health has always been a topic that has piqued my curiosity. Largely because of my lived experience, but also because it is one of the health conditions with the most stigma, despite the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that 1 in 4 people is likely to suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives.

At a national (Kenya) level, it is estimated that 25% of all outpatient clients and 40% of inpatient clients in Kenya’s health facilities suffer from a mental health condition. In addition, it is estimated that 50% of all mental disorders start by the age of 14 years and 75% by the age of 24 years.

From a fiscal lens, according to the 2021 Kenya Mental Health Investment Case, it was estimated that in 2021, mental health conditions cost the Kenyan economy 62.2 billion Kenyan shillings (US$ 571.8 million), equivalent to 0.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020. These annual costs include 5.5 billion KES in health care expenditure and 56.6 billion KES in lost productivity due to premature mortality, absenteeism and presenteeism.

At a global level, the WHO World Mental Health Report states that the World Economic Forum calculated that a broadly defined set of mental health conditions cost the world economy approximately US$ 2.5 trillion in 2010, combining lost economic productivity (US$ 1.7 trillion) and direct costs of care (US$ 0.8 trillion). This total cost was projected to rise to US$ 6 trillion by 2030 alongside increased social costs.

If you've gotten to this point and forgotten all the coins lost in the mental health and wellness coffers, then remember these key statistics from the world mental health report:

1. Countries spend on average just 2% of their health budget on mental health.
2. Two out of every three dollars spent on mental health goes to running psychiatric hospitals; despite the evident need for primary healthcare in mental health
3. In low-income countries, there are fewer than one mental health worker per 100 000 population
4. Less than 5% of mental health research funding goes to LMICs.

The Power of Anchors & Collaborations: My Mental Health Journey

I began my mental health advocacy journey in 2016 after two key life events happened to me on both an academic and personal front, both relating to depression. This saw me start the first MSAKE - Medical Students' Associations of Kenya mental health project dubbed, "Speak It Out," when I was the National Officer for Medical Education alongside Ndemange Mutuku .

Flashforward six- years later and MSAKE, now has a dedicated Standing Committee on Mental Health (SCOMH), and the mental health discussion was held amongst doctors who are a part of the Kenya Medical Association Young Doctors Network at their 2022 Convening under the theme, "The Unspoken Mental Health Pandemic." (you can read the event report here).

One key thing I have learnt from these experiences is the importance of having a community of people who support you. Mental health as a topic has a lot of stigma and many at times events I have hosted under a mental health theme have a quarter of the audience of an event on a more trendier topic such as entrepreneurship.

However, as the Thriving at Work session Ndemange Mutuku , Raymond Mugume and I hosted at the 2022 revealed, sometimes all that is needed is the vulnerability to start a difficult conversation for others to join you and for all of you to leverage your lived experience so as to make the health space more equitable and bridge the mental health for all gap.

PS: The Thriving at Work Session is named after GOV.UK independent review of mental health and employers by Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer called Thriving at Work: a review of mental health and employers

Putting Money Where Your Mouth Is

Despite the fiscal gaps in investing in mental well-being, I need to appreciate that now more than ever, people are more cognizant of the importance of mental health for all with organizations such as the Kenya Psychiatrist Association , Kenya Medical Association and other health professional entities leading the way in mental health advocacy and service provision through the COVID-19 webinar series that they ran and the Healthcare Worker Call Centre

At a national level, mental ill-health was deemed a national emergency and a Taskforce announced on June 1 2019 (Madaraka Day) that curated a comprehensive report dubbed: Mental Health and Wellbeing: Towards Happiness and National Prosperity about one year later, with one of the key calls to action being urging Kenyans to adopt a culture of mental wellness in their homes, communities, schools, places of worship and workplaces.

In addition, pharmaceuticals are also not being left behind, with 强生公司 hosting a timely breakfast side event on mental health at the America Chamber of Commerce Business summit #AmChamBizSummit,?where the role of National Health Insurance Fund - Kenya (NHIF) in accessible mental health services was shared with by the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Samson Kuhora , who shared that NHIF now covers mental health and that in 2022, 0.49% of total claims went to mental health services. I am curious to see if the figure goes up in this financial year.

That is it for part two. In the final part, we dive deeper into key insights from my attendance at the?#AmChamBizSummit, the?#EUKenyaBusinessForum?and why global health leaders should be concerned about the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). As usual, feedback is welcome on [email protected] or on LinkedIn Messaging