mental health

EU Mental Health Compass update: economic analysis of workplace mental health promotion and disorders prevention

Mental health disorders impose significant barriers for the EU realising its policy objectives for improved public health and recovered economic growth. But what is the estimated contribution good mental health can add to EU economy? What numbers are to convince policy-makers and employers to invest in mental health promotion and mental disorders prevention actions? This Economic Analysis of Workplace Programmes gives answers to these questions. After launch of the Joint Action on Mental (...)

Unremitting smoking rates among people with mental health conditions in the UK

According to "Smoking and Health", the latest report published by the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, smoking in mental health patients is being neglected by the UK National Health Service, which results in a deterioration of the patients’ quality of life and in a substantial increase of healthcare costs. The joint report produced by the Royal College of Physicians, an EPHA member, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists on Smoking and Mental (...)

Health Commissioner Tonio Borg - EU Commission takes gender dimension and men’s health into account on its policies

The seminar hosted by Christel Schaldemose (S & D, DK) focused on men’s health as a vital public health issue. Health Commissioner Tonio Borg highlighted the importance of reducing health inequalities and explained how the Commission takes into account the gender dimension within its policies to improve men’s health. He stressed that prevention of diseases is much more cost effective than the cure. The résumé of the event is available here Background information On 25 (...)

EPHA Report on the Impact of the Crisis on the Population Mental Health

Economic crises such as the one Europe has been going through since late 2007 have a considerable impact on the society as a whole. Sky-rocking unemployment, the use and abuse of unhealthy substances, and mental illnesses are just some of the areas EPHA looked at in its just-released "Report on the impact of the crisis on the population mental health". “The economic crisis should not turn into a health crisis”, John Dalli, ex EU Commissioner in charge of health and consumer (...)

Setting standards - Discussing health inequalities in the context of the European Year of Citizens

EPHA Member Mental Health Europe (MHE) and the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) organised a hearing hosted by Kinga Göncz MEP (S & D, HU) in the European Parliament. It focused on existing inequalities from the viewpoint of homeless people with mental health problems. As EPHA informed its members prior to the meeting, the meeting was organised around the European Year of Citizens 2013. As it is becoming increasingly evident, discussion (...)

European Economic and Social Committee advocates for 2014 to be the European Year on Mental Health

On 30 October, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) organised a public hearing to discuss the body’s initiative to set 2014 as the European year of mental health. Considering the impact the current economic climate has on the population’s mental health and well-being, there is a clear need to raise awareness on this topic. The hearing was divided in two sessions. The first one provided participants with an overview of the situation of mental health in Europe along (...)

EPHA Working Group on Mental Health - October 2012

On 11 October 2012, EPHA Secretariat organised a meeting of its Working Group on Mental Health. The meeting focused on sharing the key developments of the working group (since June 2011), and to discuss a draft briefing that EPHA Secretariat prepared on ’The impact of the crisis on the population’s mental health’ (mainly through levels of employment and unemployment as a result of the crisis). Agenda of the meeting. Because of the break-in to the EPHA office and the (...)

Preventing suicide, the WHO supports governments in acting against this collective responsibility

15 years after the UN publication “Prevention of Suicide: Guidelines for the formulation and implementation of national strategies”, the WHO issued a new report based on evidence gathered since 2006 aims at assisting governments in developing strategies for the prevention of suicide. EPHA summarises the report below. Suicide is one of the three principal causes of death among people aged 15 to 44 years old. While it represented 1.8% of the total disease burden in 1998, this (...)

Rio + 20 - Wins and losses for public health

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) on 20-22 June 2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. The Conference focused on two themes: (a) the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable (...)

Save the date! Setting standards - discussing health inequalities in the context of the European Year of Citizens, November 13, Brussels

This hearing, hosted by Hungarian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Kinga Göncz (S&D), will discuss inclusive citizenship from the viewpoint of homeless people with mental health problems. Centred on free movement, the discourse around the European Year of Citizens fails to acknowledge the deep inequalities still present in EU Member States, such as health inequalities. Raising awareness of the discrimination and lack of access to health care often experienced by this group, the (...)