(Volume 4) - Mental Health Disorders - Vula - University of Cape Town

Executive SummaryIntroductionFollowing an initiative from the Head of the Western Cape ProvincialDepartment of Health, a Project Task Team was appointed to delineate theextent of, and identify the main contributors to, the burden of disease (BoD)in the province. Five disease groups were identified as the largest contributorsto the total burden of disease in the Western Cape, as shown in Table 1below. Five corresponding workgroups were constituted to develop policies forthe prevention of these diseases to significantly decrease the burden ofdisease in the Province.Table 1: The five major contributors tothe Burden of Disease in the Western Cape ProvinceDisease group1. Major infectious diseases2. Mental disorders3. Cardio-vascular diseases4. Childhood diseases5. InjuryWith this background in mind, the Mental Health Workgroup was establishedas a consortium of multi-sectoral and intergovernmental public health andmental health experts. The workgroup was asked to make recommendationswith regard to those interventions which might reduce the burden of mentalillness in the province. A further consideration was for the group to focus onpreventing common mental disorders such as: depression, substance abuse,childhood behavioural disorders, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Byimplication, the aim was to suggest interventions which might promote andsustain good mental health.Investing in Mental Health: Nice … but necessary?As illustrated in this volume, mental illness has a major impact on individualand population health, educational outcomes, teenage pregnancy, socialcapital, community violence, poverty, and the economy of a country.From an economic perspective, the impact of mental illness is vast. Theannual costs of mental disorders have been calculated at $147 billion in theUnited States and at 3-4% of the Gross National Product in the EuropeanUnion (WHO, 2005).Unfortunately, data of this kind is not available in South Africa, but — foralcohol abuse alone — the annual economic costs are estimated at between0,5 and 1,9 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product: about R8,7-- 3 -