Mental health impacts on economy

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health is the new pandemic, ac counting for over per cent of all ab senteeism in the workplace. It further inferred that mental health is also among the leading causes of reduction in productivity. The study got me think ing about the economics of social issues. Health is broadly characteri]ed as a social issue and the link between health and the economy is often difficult to establish. Today I will try and build that link and make a case on why the *overnment of (swatini should consider increasing investment in mental health.

The great exodus

3ost the &29I' 1 pandemic the workplace recorded record highs in terms of the number of people who voluntarily left their jobs. To this day a number of companies are struggling to return to full capacity because the labour, especially the youth, is not returning to work. The main drivers for this are mental health and emotional sanity. 5easons range from the workplace being toxic, restrictive and not enabling enough flexibility to allow a fulfilling life and perfect work life balance. I cite the great exodus because it created the link between health and the economy for all to see we can also think back to how HI9 ravaged the nation and our *'3 and productivity took a hard knock. In a nutshell, a healthy nation is a healthy workforce and this is likely to result in high rates of economic growth.

Mental health medicalisation

2ne would argue that government is already stretched on investments in health. Health is a priority sector and it is the second largest ticket on government¶s expenditures. True as that may be, it is important for the national budget to move with the times. It is also critical that we continually calibrate the health budget in keeping with changes in mortality and morbidity. At present there is one psychiatric hospital in the country, and there is also a handful of psychologists charging the mental health response in (swatini. Historically, most mental health conditions were seen as social, spiritual and emotional problems with no room for consideration in the health sector. Hence such a response may have been sufficient when mental health problems were not in the realm of the clinical. However, with the medicalisation of mental health, the response is now very deficient. Medicalisation refers to a scenario where a problem, which was regarded as a social issue, gets enrolled into the realm of the medical or health. :hen this happens, a congruent shift in resources ought to follow to ensure that the health system can effectively deal with the problem. In a nutshell, medicali]ation adds pressure on the health sector response and requires more resources to be allocated to the sector. /et my thoughts this week act as a call on the *overnment of the .ingdom of (swatini to adequately capacitate our public health psychologists, psychiatrists and other cadres within the sector to ensure productivity is enhanced.

Managing millennials

The rhetoric is that millennials are a generation that does not want to work compared to the baby boomers and generation ;. I contend, based on observation and reading, that the current work environment is just not suited for this generation. As I see it, there are two alternatives to this problem, either the workplace evolves to meet the style of the millennials or we capacitate workplaces with industrial psychologists. I will make an example of these hardwood desks that baby boomers deem executive, which adds to the stress for millennials because it makes the office seem too dull. It is imperative that the workplace moves with the times to accommodate millennials to ensure that maximum productivity is reaped. )urthermore, &29I' 1 altered the structure of the work environment fundamentally. It showed us that in a number of sectors there is no need for an office domicile. It pushed the world towards independent working and flexible working hours. This cemented the idea that it is possible to work for a company based half way across the world without moving countries. All that is required is the right technology. This is also cited as one of the major contributing factors to the great exodus. The dot.com generation does not have the same faith the baby boomers had on permanent and pensionable jobs. In the modern age all one needs to do is to have a balanced portfolio that is well managed.

Prioritize mental health

It is imperative that as a country we begin prioriti] ing mental health by ensuring that we have adequate resources for an effective response. :e need all schools to have a school counsellor all hospitals ought to have psychiatrists and psychologists. This is not to down play the efforts made by government in staffing, however, it is to agitate for an increase in the amount of resources allocated towards the mental health response in the country. Industry as well needs to establish a mandatory wellness programme across sectors. Industry should have adequate mental health specialists to assist workers with their mental health problems and help them sustain productivity.