Mental health is one of the leading causes of health issues globally. One in four people will be affected with at least one mental health disorder during their lifetime. A person can only imagine how costly this must be for a country. This leads them to ask the question: how does mental health affect the economy of countries? In order to answer this inquiry, it is only logical to first explore the global prominence of mental health, how countries are using funding to help with the issue, and then see how the funding affects these countries from an economic aspect.
As has been noted, mental health is significantly impacting humankind all around the world. For example, in China, according to the article Mental Health Care in China: Recent Changes …show more content…
The more problematic the issue is in a country, the more the country has to spend on funding in order to help combat the problem. Particularly the government. The World Health Organization’s 2014 Mental health atlas acknowledges that in about 80% of countries, the government is the main source of funding for mental health, and the amount of money they are spending is not a small amount. Jiwei Qian writes, “In 2011, outpatient visits for mental health care [in China] were over 27 million.” Most of these costs were paid for by the government, as these expenses are tremendous and many Chinese citizens are not able to pay the costs on their own. This fact does not make the problem any less easier for the country, having extreme impacts on not only the country, but the citizens as well. Europe also spends quite a bit on mental health. The World Health Organization’s European article mentions that 31% of European countries dedicate 5-10% of their health care budget to specifically psychiatric conditions. This may not seem like a lot, however, healthcare is one of the main location of where funds go, and is allocated a great deal of a country’s budget, so even 5% of it is quite a bit. According to the same article about France that was mentioned earlier, the total cost of mental health care in France was about €13.4 billion, which is 8% of their total health care funds. So, as mentioned earlier, even though the percent of mental health funding out of the amount of general health funding may not appear to be significant, in this case it shows that even a ‘measly’ 8% of total healthcare expenditures is equal to €13.4 billion, which is clearly not an insignificant amount. The National Council talks of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which is a U.S agency that is meant to fund states so they
As has been noted, mental health is significantly impacting humankind all around the world. For example, in China, according to the article Mental Health Care in China: Recent Changes …show more content…
The more problematic the issue is in a country, the more the country has to spend on funding in order to help combat the problem. Particularly the government. The World Health Organization’s 2014 Mental health atlas acknowledges that in about 80% of countries, the government is the main source of funding for mental health, and the amount of money they are spending is not a small amount. Jiwei Qian writes, “In 2011, outpatient visits for mental health care [in China] were over 27 million.” Most of these costs were paid for by the government, as these expenses are tremendous and many Chinese citizens are not able to pay the costs on their own. This fact does not make the problem any less easier for the country, having extreme impacts on not only the country, but the citizens as well. Europe also spends quite a bit on mental health. The World Health Organization’s European article mentions that 31% of European countries dedicate 5-10% of their health care budget to specifically psychiatric conditions. This may not seem like a lot, however, healthcare is one of the main location of where funds go, and is allocated a great deal of a country’s budget, so even 5% of it is quite a bit. According to the same article about France that was mentioned earlier, the total cost of mental health care in France was about €13.4 billion, which is 8% of their total health care funds. So, as mentioned earlier, even though the percent of mental health funding out of the amount of general health funding may not appear to be significant, in this case it shows that even a ‘measly’ 8% of total healthcare expenditures is equal to €13.4 billion, which is clearly not an insignificant amount. The National Council talks of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which is a U.S agency that is meant to fund states so they