Are we investing enough in mental health as a national priority?
According to the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Atlas, governments around the world spent an average of just over 2% of their health budgets on mental health in 2020. Additionally, 66% of total government spending on mental health was directed toward the outdated approach of psychiatric hospitals.
The World Bank deemed that “all countries could be considered ‘developing’ from a mental health perspective because they have been slow to respond to the growing burden.”
Certainly we are guilty of that too. In 2017, mental health spending in Singapore was S$300 million, just 3 per cent of the Ministry of Health’s total spending, compared to 11 per cent for diabetes and 6 per cent for aged care.
In 2022, mental health spending is projected to increase to S$434.6 million, but only accounts for 3% of total health spending (not including COVID-19 spending). What’s even more interesting is that in 2022, only 3 per cent of Singapore’s mental health spending was spent on promotion and prevention, while 97 per cent was spent on treatment.
But the National Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, launched last October, clearly presupposes a new policy narrative in which mental health is a continuum, not just the absence of illness, and this is a much-welcomed new policy narrative. It’s a change.
Under the new national strategy, a stepped care model will organize mental health services and supports based on the severity of an individual’s needs, with multiple touchpoints including a new national mental health hotline and text message service. be done.
Specific targets have also been set for implementation by 2030, including making mental health services available in all general hospitals and 1,350 HealthierSG GP practices. The number of psychiatrists in the public sector will also increase by about 30 percent to 260, and the number of psychologists will increase by about 40 percent to 300. Additionally, the number of Community Outreach Teams (CRESTs) targeting young people will likely increase as well. The number of employees has doubled from the current eight to 15.
In fact, there is no question that our mental health spending will increase by more than 3% of total health spending over the next six years.
According to the 2016 Singapore Mental Health Survey, if one in seven Singaporeans (14 per cent) has a mental health condition (perhaps even more now), then 3 per cent of the total health budget Shouldn’t we be investing more of this in our mental health?
We would also like to see a more equal distribution between mental health promotion/prevention and care treatment when adopting approaches to population health.
This is because changes occur depending on where and how much you invest.
