Mental Health Economics Project (2002-2004)
Supported by the European Commission, DG HEALTH and CONSUMER PROTECTION Co-ordinated by : MENTAL HEALTH EUROPE
With the technical and scientific co-ordination of LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS – Health and Social Care
BACKGROUND
Health economics is appearing regularly as a topic with increasing frequency in the media, in health journals and in health politics generally. its influence on mental health issues and policies is small but growing.
It is recognised increasingly that health economics has a positive contribution to make to policy decisions, the development of health promoting strategies and to the evaluation of preventive interventions.
There is compelling evidence also that mental health economics is needed for the measurements of costs and outcomes of preventive and promotive intervention, for the economic evaluation of physical and human resources and for the improvement of factors influencing mental health.
Demands of economic inputs to mental health policy-making, practice decision and research evaluation have grown considerably in recent years, but the overall supply response has been modest.
THE MENTAL HEALTH ECONOMICS PROJECT
The project started on 1 November 2002 and ended on 1 August 2004.
17 European countries participated in the project : Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.
A network of representatives from Europe with expertise and/or experience of health economics and with personal work or commitment to the economics of mental health has been recruited from research, educational, governmental and private, as well as service institutions in the participating countries. (Partners)
OBJECTIVES :
- to prepare a simple framework for identifying and collecting data on the primary economic dimensions relevant to mental health systems in the member states of the eu
- to build up information and indicators which would allow comparisons to be made, and also provide the means for better understanding of how mental health systems might be developed
- to use the network as a means for learning about economic issues in mental health in member states and also about how these economic issues are being addressed.
OUTCOMES :
An Executive summary of the Outcomes of the Project, Policy Recommendations and 4 Research papers were prepared:
- “Role of Mental Health Economics”
- “Financing Mental Health in Western Europe”
- “Employment and Mental Health”
- “Capacity Building in Mental Health Economics”
References
The papers provide a synthesis and analysis of the seventeen individual country reports prepared by the project partners, supplemented by the use of additional database and published literature. They describe systems and arrangements in the countries covered by the project as the basis for making suggestions and turn them into policy recommendations.
Mental Health Europe - Santé Mentale Europe, e-mail: info@mhe-sme.org
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