The economics of mental ill-health in the EU/EEA

Abstract This presentation will provide an overview of the challenges and costs of mental ill health in 29 EU/EEA countries and an economic assessment of options to address current policy gaps. Nearly 20% of people in the EU/EEA experience mental ill health, with a particularly high prevalence among vulnerable groups such as people on low incomes or young people. However, in the majority of cases, and particularly for those with milder forms, these conditions go undiagnosed. Even when diagnosed, access to quality health services is sub-optimal, mainly due to financial issues or waiting times. The European Union and its Member States have identified mental ill health as a major public health threat, but there are still significant policy gaps and a lack of evidence on the most effective and cost-effective interventions to implementation. Building on its methodology for identifying and evaluating better public health policies for better lives, the OECD has recently extended the scope of its economic work to mental health. This presentation will start by providing an estimate of the health and economic burden of mental ill health in EU/EEA countries and will present evaluations of best practices in this field recently introduced by EU Member States. The talk will not only present the results of the analyses but will also use the identified case studies to discuss the approach used and some of the methodological issues involved in carrying out economic analysis for a set of diseases with high burden but relatively low mortality.