ZIMBABWE—Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health & Child Care (MOHCC), and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have jointly held a meeting in Harare to disseminate information on the Mental Health Investment case report.

The case report was presented to key stakeholders including UN agencies, donors, and corporate organizations to spur discussion in investing in Zimbabwe’s mental health services.

WHO Zimbabwe Country Representative Professor Jean-Marie Dangou said, “Investing in mental health is not only essential for addressing economic challenges but also for promoting overall health and well-being.”

“For example, treating depression can improve outcomes for individuals with chronic conditions such as HIV, TB, diabetes, and heart disease,” he added.

This is the first time that Zimbabwe has conducted an investment case for mental health.

The case report provides an assessment of the current mental health situation in the country elaborating on the challenges and opportunities for development of the country’s mental health system.

The case report also presents the economic evidence numbers attributed to the leading mental, neurological, and substance use conditions.

The Zimbabwe joint case report shows the intervention costs, health gains, and economic benefits for clinical interventions of the six leading mental conditions which are depression, anxiety, psychosis, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, and alcohol use disorder.

The case report also presented two population-based interventions namely, a pesticide ban and a universal school-based socio-emotional learning intervention.

Dr. Debra Machando, WHO Zimbabwe Mental Health Technical Officer provided an overview of Zimbabwe’s Special Initiative for Mental Health. 

She stated that mental, neurological, and substance use conditions pose a significant challenge in Zimbabwe, and are major causes of morbidity and mortality.

The presentation also showed the challenge that mental health significantly plays on Zimbabwe’s socioeconomic fabric.

Mental health conditions not only cause human suffering but cause severe burdens to the public health system with associated losses for the economy and society.

Further, it points out that challenges also encompass lost workforce productivity due to premature death, missed days of work (absenteeism), and impaired job performance (presenteeism).

The opportunity to invest in mental health in Zimbabwe needs will be US$175 million in the next 10 years and US$689 million in the next 20 years, the case report highlights.

Current global investment in mental health is very low. Data from the WHO Mental Health Atlas show that many low- and middle-income countries allocate less than 2% or even 1% of their health budget to the treatment and prevention of mental health conditions,

The report continues to elaborate that most of the funds made available by governments are allocated for the operational costs of specialized but increasingly outdated mental hospitals, many of which are associated with isolation, violations of human rights, and poor health outcomes.

WHO Mental Health Atlas also shows that from the donor perspective, the situation is no better: a mere 0.1% of development assistance for health is for mental health promotion, protection, and care.

The partnership to disseminate the Mental Health Investment Case Report is an important step in encouraging more investment in this area and promoting an understanding of the importance of investing in mental health today to have a huge return in the next 10 to 20 years.

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