Mental health shares limelight at Apec meet

CEBU CITY—Mental health used to be a topic talked about only in whispers in many places in the Asia Pacific.

Not anymore.

Mental health would now share the stage with some of the world’s most pressing concerns being tackled at the ongoing Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s 5th High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy here.

“Mental illness, up until quite recently a silent but insidious chronic disease, is now recognized as a priority that should be addressed openly and well,” said Health Secretary Janette Garin, in her keynote address at the opening of the two-day meet on Sunday.

Garin, who presided over the meeting, said many types of mental diseases can be prevented and all can be treated.

She said cases of violence, like bombings or gun attacks, being linked to mentally disturbed persons could have been prevented if the mental disease had been recognized and treated early.

“The consequences of such action is something that should not happen again,” she said.

She said mental health patients, if given proper medication and treatment, could become productive members of society.

Garin said the Philippines is taking a leading role this year in promoting mental well-being.

She said the Apec mental health meeting in Manila on Aug. 25 led to the launching of a “digital hub” that would support collaborative work between governments, the academe and private sector in addressing mental health issues.

“The Philippines is proud to be a partner in the launch of this hub,” she said.

The meeting is held by members of the Health Working Group and the Life Sciences Innovation Forum.

They are expected to provide a forum for dialogue among government officials, international organizations, nongovernment organizations, among others, on important issues regarding health and economy.

Garin said the meeting would result in a number of new initiatives and provide recommendations on key priority actions on chronic diseases that include mental illness and the economic implications of an unhealthy populace.

The Healthy Asia Pacific 2020 Initiative, which was submitted to the 2014 Apec economic ministers and listed in the leaders’ declaration, was strategy direction and health agenda for the coming five years.

In Apec 2015, the high-level meeting was expected to develop a road map for the initiative.

Garin said the implementation of the road map would go a long way in addressing the struggle on infectious and chronic diseases.

“Our job is to endorse the roadmap, identify key areas where each of us can take a lead in collective implementation,” she said.

“The road map should not be left in the corners of this room. The road map should not be left in the city of Cebu,” she said.

Garin said health authorities saw an alarming rise in the number of infectious disease cases.

Still, she added that health authorities laud the development of the world’s first dengue vaccine and malaria vaccine.

Whether the new drugs would be affordable would be addressed if the 21 countries that belong to Apec worked hand in hand.

Garin also said health authorities should convince their government’s budget and finance planners to help in efforts to promote mental health.

“Economic planning and finance communities look at health as a cost,” said Garin.

“This should not be. Health should be regarded as an investment,” she added.

In the Philippines, Garin said the government has expanded the membership of PhilHealth, the country’s social health insurance program, to include “both the poor and the near poor.”

Since 2010, she added that the government had made significant investments in improving health facilities and the elimination of age-old infectious diseases, among others.

Garin said several landmark health legislation had been passed.

She identified these as Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, an Act Restructuring the Excise Tax on Alcohol and Tobacco of 2012, the National Health Insurance Act of 2013 and an Act to Effectively Instill Health Consciousness through Graphic Warnings on Tobacco Products of 2014.