Mental health and integration

Health

Mental health and integration

October 10, 2016

Asia

October 10, 2016

Asia
P

Mental illness is the second largest contributor to years lost due to disability (YLDs) in the Asia-Pacific region. Nowhere, though, do more than half of those affected receive any medical treatment. This is not some temporary crisis. It is business as usual.


Across the region, policy makers and health systems are taking note. In 2010, Japan declared mental illness to be one of just five priority diseases; China passed its first ever mental health law in 2012; Indonesia significantly modernised its legislation in 2014 and India adopted its first mental health policy the same year. Meanwhile, at the international level, APEC and ASEAN have also begun to engage with the issue.

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