Mental Health Issues In Malaysia

A man feeds his pet bird on his front porch during the movement control order in gombak april 23 2020.

Mental health issues in malaysia. A mental health advocate estimates mental health issues among employees may have cost the country rm14 46 billion or 1 of malaysia s gross domestic product gdp in. They have qualified mental health professionals that provide psychological support services and financial subsidies are readily available to ensure that necessary therapy and support is given to anyone who needs it. It contributes to a substantial proportion of health problems in most countries mental health issues are expected to be major problems among malaysians. Picture by firdaus latif.

Based on the national health and morbidity survey 2015 study by the ministry the prevalence of mental health issues among adults above 16 years old is 29 2 or 4 2mil malaysians he said in a. Petaling jaya a total of 8 380 calls were recorded on the covid 19 hotline since the early days of the movement control order mco with many of them related to mental health issues says. Resolving mental illness issues in malaysia. Malaysia spends 2 35 of its gdp on health and 0 39 of this is allocated towards mental health with no specific mental health budget for community mental health programmes.

The malaysian mental health association also provides support via their phone line on any mental health issues. 2018 with the estimated costs exceeding 80 million usd manaf et al. What policymakers fail to understand is that the direct costs of mental illnesses are less than the indirect costs for mental illnesses. By 2020 mental illness is expected to be the second biggest health problem affecting malaysians after heart disease.

File pic kuala lumpur. According to the latest national health and morbidity survey every three in 10 adults aged 16 years and above in malaysia suffer from some form of mental health issues. Kuala lumpur april 30 malaysian think tank the centre today revealed that a study on mental health well being showed that almost half of its respondents reported experiencing negative mental well being during the movement control order mco with different. Today approximately 30 of people in malaysia aged 16 years or older have mental health problems hassan et al.