Issues and Implications

Mental ill-health is ranked as the third most costly conditions in overall health care expenditure. 

In 2012, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) confirmed the magnitude of this public health challenge. 

For example, 20 percent of the working-age population suffers from a mental health disorder. 

Major depressive disorder is projected to be the leading cause of disease burden by 2030.  And, the World Economic Forum has projected a $6 trillion loss in direct and indirect costs worldwide by 2030.

Countries must begin to address the mental conditions of its population as a public health imperative.  

This can be done by identifying the peoples’ emotional well-being needs and prioritise strategies to enable the peoples’ capacity for ‘doing good’  and, hence, the peoples’ ‘feeling of goodness’.

Well-being a needed indicator of national development

A country’s per capita is commonly used to gauge its development status and how well its population is doing.  However, economic growth does not necessarily lead to enhanced emotional well-being.  

GDP has been questioned as a metric of global development because it fails to recognise emotional well-being and ‘feeling of goodness’ as imperatives in human condition.

Health care policy needs to shift from its focus on the management of illnesses to one that proactively enhances mental health and emotional well-being of individuals, organisations, and communities.  

One crucial way of addressing these challenges is by strengthening the emotional well-being and resilience of individuals, groups, families, society in general, and the country.

How to enhance emotional well-being

One of the key aims of governments, private sectors and civil societies is to promote a ‘flourishing’ society in which people ‘feel goodness’.  However, most countries prioritise economic growth and GDP as the primary indicators of national development.

Emotional well-being needs to take centre stage in the development and implementation of public health policies.  This covers the areas of health, work and productivity, social behaviour, community cohesion, and accountability.

There is a need to take concerted efforts to integrate emotional well-being in policy-development and implementation.  This requires broadly based policies and programs, as well as specific activities in the prevention and treatment of ill-health.

Emotional well-being can be improved through the collective action of civil societies and inter-sectoral collaboration to ensure that interventions are appropriate and sustainable.