Increased public spending on training and recruiting mental healthcare professionals, while improving access to digital mental health services, is needed globally to meet rising demand for qualified care.
Governments have a role to play in building "mentally resilient societies" by implementing healthcare policies and initiatives that promote and sustain wellbeing, according to a research paper by global consultancy PwC.
The study emphasised that wellbeing straddles the traditional "hard boundaries" that are no longer recognised by medical professionals. It also urged policymakers to consider that in mental health, as in all health care, prevention is better than the treatment of illness — both for patients and for budgets.
"Wellbeing is integral to the health of society, and governments need to take action on behalf of their citizens. Although we are seeing some great examples of this globally, ultimately stigmas and misinformation continue to exist, and the provision of mental health services falls far short of what is needed," said Hamish Clark, Middle East health industries partner and Middle East chief wellness officer at PwC.
"Governments need to ... invest in the wellbeing of their citizens earlier on, collecting and processing more and better data on child and adolescent mental health care and support to give them the best possible chance in life."
The paper comes amid increasingly loud calls for better regulated, easily accessible and affordable mental healthcare services globally, particularly after the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Governments are increasingly focusing on wellbeing as a national priority, amid greater awareness of the toll that poor mental health takes on individuals, healthcare systems, productivity and the economy.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that poor mental health costs the global economy $1 trillion a year in lost productivity. In 2022, the WHO estimated that about one in eight people globally were living with a mental disorder.
In 2019, the UAE unveiled its National Wellbeing Strategy 2031, a comprehensive 10-year plan aimed at further improving the quality of life, through about 90 projects to be implemented by government bodies. Among its goals is an improvement of the population's physical and mental health, social relationships, education and the efficiency of government services.
The PwC paper, titled “The Future of Wellbeing: Next Policy Steps for Building Mentally Resilient Societies”, was released during the World Government Summit in Dubai. It explores measures and initiatives governments can develop to deliver sustained results in mental health care and wellbeing.
It recommends increasing government funding for the recruitment, clinical training and deployment of mental health professionals to meet the increasing gap between rising demand for qualified clinicians and insufficient supply.
Broader access to digital mental health care and mental wellbeing products and services is also needed in developed and developing countries, PwC said.
"The case for broadening access has already been demonstrated by the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis, when digital technologies helped maintain and even improve mental health provision during a period of extreme stress and anxiety for many citizens," it said.
However, governments need to maintain strict regulation and oversight of the rising global digital therapeutics industry, it added.
The report also highlighted the gap between rising levels of concern globally about the mental health of young people and the quantity and quality of data in this field.
"Accurate, timely knowledge about the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents in low and middle-income countries is generally patchy at best, even though they are often the section of the population that is most vulnerable to the impact of war, disease and natural disasters," PwC said.
Combining new digital technologies and data analytics with learning from best practices in other countries can help governments to develop a body of evidence about child and adolescent mental health, the report said. This will in turn lead to better-informed policies and programmes, it concluded.
Things Heard & Seen
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton
2/5
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The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
The Little Things
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Four stars
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
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The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
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The National photo project
Chris Whiteoak, a photographer at The National, spent months taking some of Jacqui Allan's props around the UAE, positioning them perfectly in front of some of the country's most recognisable landmarks. He placed a pirate on Kite Beach, in front of the Burj Al Arab, the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland at the Burj Khalifa, and brought one of Allan's snails (Freddie, which represents her grandfather) to the Dubai Frame. In Abu Dhabi, a dinosaur went to Al Ain's Jebel Hafeet. And a flamingo was taken all the way to the Hatta Mountains. This special project suitably brings to life the quirky nature of Allan's prop shop (and Allan herself!).
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.