Tadeusz Hawrot
Jul 4, 2023
Tadeusz Hawrot, Founder and Executive Director of PAREA, states the case for a new focus in the EU’s mental health care approach, that is the underserved area of psychedelic therapies.
As we navigate deeper into the 21st century, the importance of mental health care is gaining increasing recognition. But we still have a long way to go.
The OECD estimates that mental illness affects one in two individuals during their lifetime, making it an ever-present yet often overlooked aspect of overall well-being.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 identifies mental health deterioration as a severe risk to economies and societies. Yet, a startling reality is revealed in the WHO’s 2022 report: governments allocate, on average, only 2% of their health budgets to mental health. Furthermore, though making up 30% of total mental health sector funding, philanthropic donations represent a mere 0.5% of all health contributions.
A recent discussion paper by the European Commission titled Scoping study on evidence to tackle high-burden under-researched medical conditions highlights these imbalances further. Predictably, it found that mental disorders top the list, despite research suggesting that investments in mental health could yield up to a 37% return – the highest of all biomedical fields.
Last year, the European Medicines Agency recommended 89 new medicines for approval; astonishingly, not a single one was for mental health conditions. All the while, as many as 67% of people say they do not get the mental health support they need. This raises a crucial question: where is the innovation in mental health treatment? A white paper by IQVIA points out that only 20% of R&D in the Central Nervous System is dedicated to mental health.