Mental health problems affect EU wealth, employment

Rethink, the UK’s leading mental health membership charity: "We must not forget that health and well-being of citizens affect EU's wealth," reminded Rethink's Chief Executive, Cliff Prior. Charity's position on the Commission's green paper states that "economic prosperity within the EU largely relies on the health and happiness of its workforce. Employment itself can contribute to mental ill health as working conditions can often lead to mental stress. The burden of mental ill health has a significant impact on the productivity of a countries workforce."

EUFAMI (European Federation of Associations of Families of Mentally Ill): "The EU and national governments need to work together to end the discrimination, social exclusion, infringement of human rights, and the lack of funding that currently plagues those with mental ill health in Europe. The EU needs to listen to and utilise the knowledge of those with first hand experience when developing their European mental health strategy," said EUFAMI Secretary General, Kevin Jones. EUFAMI recommends the Commission to develop guidelines for the implementation of mental health initiatives by member states for which EU funding of 50% would be available. 

AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company who funded the Rethink-EUFAMI study, says that there are large differences in access to treatments within and between member states and asks the Commission to recommend action to reduce these inequalities. While welcoming the Commission's green paper, it highlights the need to balance prevention with meeting the needs of those already suffering from mental illnesses.  

The rapporteur on Parliament's response on the issue, MEP John Bowis said that "mental ill health is the fastest growing disease and affects one in four of us. No member state meets the challenge. Perhaps we could establish demonstration sites on best practice across the EU, " he said. Even if health is not really an EU competence, "health and safety at work is," he continued. "The EU could encourage employers to be more concerned for the mental health of their workers."

Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) says that the prevalence rates, for example for depression, are greatly influenced by gender, age and marital status and it is, therefore, necessary to target the messages to specific groups when promoting mental health and addressing mental ill health through preventive action.