Mental illness is main problem for citizens

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 13/01/05

MENTAL illness is the number one public health problem facing Europe. According to the European Commission, such illness affects one in four Europeans at some time during their lives and it is the third largest disease burden across the region accounting for 3-4% of Europe's gross domestic product.

Yet there is still huge stigma concerning mental illness and its treatment. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that half of all Europeans suffering from depression receive no treatment at all despite the fact that nine of the global top-ten countries for suicide are in Europe.

The European Commission intends to prioritise the issue, starting with a ministerial conference currently under way (from 12-15 January) in Helsinki, Finland, staged jointly with the WHO and the Council of Europe. Ministers from across Europe's 52 countries are gathered to discuss collectively for the first time their commitment to improve mental health and combat mental illness. They are expected to agree on a common declaration to inform health strategies between now and 2010, including a European Health Strategy on which the Commission is currently working.

Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, who calls mental illness "Europe's unseen killer", will brief the conference on additional plans. These include a communication by the middle of 2005 focusing on raising awareness of, and reducing the stigma surrounding, mental illness in Europe. It will stress the importance of investing in the mental health of children and young people, a fifth of whom are estimated to suffer from behavioural or developmental problems, by creating partnerships with schools and colleges.

The communication will also aim to produce standards for the human rights of the mentally ill and ensure that data on mental health is improved in the EU health information system. Another policy paper in the autumn will target alcohol-related harm in Europe and suicide prevention. Suicide mortality rates range from an average 25 in every 100,000 in Finland, nearly 20 in Belgium, to six in Portugal and three in Greece.

According to the European Commission, mental illness is the number one public health problem facing Europe. The Commission pointed out that such illness affects one in four Europeans at some time during their lives and that it is the third largest disease burden across the region, accounting for 3-4% of Europe's gross domestic product.