MENTAL HEALTH – LET’S HAVE A GLOBAL VIEW!

Mental health is very much in the news at the moment – if you’re struggling to keep up, as I am, here’s a rundown of some of the latest developments internationally which may be of help!

I don’t for a moment claim that it’s comprehensive, it’s just the things that happened to grab my attention!

There’s a temptation for us all to be inward-facing and to focus on mental health issues in our own country.

The act of joining an international Group (such as the LinkedIn Mental Health First Aid Group) indicates a willingness to think beyond the narrow horizons of our own national borders, and I certainly try to do that.

The World Health Organisation said that in 2019, 970 million people across the globe were living with a mental disorder - and since then, we’ve had a global pandemic, war in Europe and the Middle East, and increasingly divisive politics.?

When it comes to mental health we are (truly) all in it together, so we should always try to take a global view.? All I can do here is sample, but for what it’s worth, here goes:

Africa

In May, the Africa CDC launched a mental health leadership programme to address mental health in Africa through a public health and human rights lens (https://africacdc.org/news-item/africa-cdc-launches-mental-health-leadership-programme/).

Health Policy watch claimed that Africa was the region with the highest suicide rate but the lowest per capita spend on mental health support (https://healthpolicy-watch.news/tanzania-clergy-suicides-spotlight-africas-mental-health-crisis/) and that the suicide of Archbishop Joseph Bundala of the Methodist Church in Tanzania (in May) had thrown a spotlight on the issue.?

South America

The World Health Organisation is supporting initiatives across South America to improve mental health support, training, accessibility, and the decentralisation of mental health care practice (https://salud.jujuy.gob.ar/2024/08/15/la-oms-destaco-a-jujuy-por-el-trabajo-comunitario-en-salud-mental/).?

Australia

Mental Health Australia, a national NGO which advocates for mental health, launched a new five year strategy (https://mhaustralia.org/mental-health-australias-strategy-2024-2029).

The National Association of Practising Psychiatrists launched a report on the mental health crisis in Australia and an “ailing” mental health care system “in disarray” (https://napp.org.au/2024/09/addressing-the-ailing-state-of-australian-mental-health-care-2024/).?

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s 2024 report “Australia’s Health” said that 43% of 16-85 year olds had experienced a mental health disorder in their life (as of 2020-22) (https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2024-in-brief/summary).

Canada

There are moves to improve the integration of mental health provision (https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/government-of-canada-and-partners-pave-way-for-standardized-mental-health-and-substance-use-care-806420736.html) and I was struck by a new report emphasising the role of nutrition in mental health (https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/first-ever-study-of-its-kind-explores-the-role-of-nutrition-in-managing-generalized-anxiety-disorder-867413789.html) which is a topic I’ve written about, perhaps with less scientific credibility(!), in the past (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/what-you-eat-dinner-tonight-mental-health-issue-steve-martin/?trackingId=cid%2BcZdeQ8CrYSqoNUorDw%3D%3D).

China

There is a particular problem with stigma relating to mental health in China (Mark Tanner wrote about this on LinkedIn last year - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/changing-stigma-around-mental-health-china-mark-tanner/) but in so far as it can be, it has been studied by a number of individuals and organisations (https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-020-02705-x).?

The European Union

The European Commission is making progress (albeit, inevitably, a little lumbering) on its mental health strategy, announced last year (https://commission.europa.eu/news/better-together-co-creating-future-mental-health-2024-05-13_en).? Mental health issues cost the EU €50 billion a year (though that sounds like a complicated calculation and presumably involves some assumptions).?

UK

In 2023 The British Medical Journal reported that mental health hardly deteriorated during the pandemic (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64890952) but this month the mental health charity Mind, giving evidence to the Covid Inquiry, had a different take on the situation https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/lack-of-planning-for-mental-health-impacts-of-pandemic-a-catastrophic-failure-says-mind/

The new Labour Government’s Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has had plenty to say about mental health (https://policymogul.com/key-updates/37398/labour-s-plan-for-mental-health-will-get-people-back-to-work-with-party-s-first-steps-for-growth-wes-streeting).? As with the previous Government there has been a focus on UK productivity and getting the long term sick back to work.?

The NHS announced that crisis mental health support will now be available on the NHS 111 service.? Here’s the relevant NHS website information (https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/where-to-get-urgent-help-for-mental-health/) and here’s the news story announcing it https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20715d6yvxo.

• England

More than 57,000 new and expectant mothers received specialist mental health support in 2023.? That’s a third more than in 2022.? The Guardian did a deep dive into these figures and discovered that black women were far more likely to be affected.? You can read the story here https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/06/black-mothers-twice-likely-white-hospitalised-perinatal-mental-illness.

NHS England has also set up an ADHD task force – ADHD is now the second most-searched-for topic on the NHS website and the number of people taking prescribed medicines for ADHD has trebled since 2015.? You can read the BBC story here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ejky0dy47o.

• Northern Ireland

The five local Health and Social Care Trusts, the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) jointly developed a campaign to encourage people across Northern Ireland to prioritise workplace mental health (https://www.mindingyourhead.info/workplace-mental-health-2024#:~:text=The%20five%20local%20Health%20and,to%20prioritise%20workplace%20mental%20health).

• Scotland

The NHS in the Western Isles has just launched a new service to provide immediate support at times of distress. The Royal College of Psychiatrists reported a growing suicide rate in Scotland (https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/members/devolved-nations/rcpsych-in-scotland/scotland-news/detail/2024/08/13/suicide-rate-increased-in-scotland-last-year--figures-show), yet in the first quarter of 2024, almost 500 fewer children started mental health treatment than in the previous year (https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/news-and-features/latest-news/detail/2024/06/05/hundreds-fewer-children-in-scotland-began-mental-health-care-in-first-quarter-of-2024#:~:text=05%20June%202024,the%20quarter%20ending%20March%202024).

• Wales

Mind Cymru came out with a report expressing concern about NHS mental health services – you can read the news story here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx6x1vp6ddo.

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The US

(As we know, from the election results this morning (November 6, 2024), the Biden Administration gives way shortly to a new Trump Administration, so I guess some of this may change.)

More Americans are experiencing anxiety (https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/news-releases/annual-poll-adults-express-increasing-anxiousness#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20The%202024%20results%20of%20the,2023%20and%2032%25%20in%202022.).

57.8m Americans suffer some sort of mental health condition (https://www.usa.edu/blog/mental-health-statistics/), but American teens appear to have slightly improved mental health (https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/p0806-youth-mental-health.html). The MHA State of Mental Health in America report had some sobering statistics (https://mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america).

The US Dept of Health and Human Services has pledged $240m to launch and expand mental health and substance use disorder services in more than 400 community health centres across the country; collectively, they care for more than 10 million people (https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2024/09/19/biden-harris-administration-announces-historic-investment-integrate-mental-health-substance-disorder-treatment-primary-care.html).?

There is a continuing focus on mental health and substance abuse amongst US military veterans (https://www.usa.gov/veterans-mental-health).

Mental Health First Aid US published an interesting article on mental health amongst Asian Americans - https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/2024/07/mental-health-in-asian-american-communities-overcoming-stigma

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