According to the World Health Organization (WTO), one in eight people in the world today lives with mental health problems. And for every 100 deaths, there will be at least one suicide. But what is worrying is that the rate rises for young people aged 15-29, where there are eight suicides for every 100 deaths. So in general, for every 1 suicide death there will be at least 20 suicide attempts.
Mental health risk factors vary from country to country. as well as coping Even many countries understand that this is a big problem. But there are still limitations to solving the problem. especially the restrictions of “Public Health Resources”
The median ratio of mental health workers to the population of 158 countries was “13 people per 100,000 people” For example, the European median is 40 times higher than that of Africa, which is the difference between high and low income countries.Low income countries have only 1.4 mental health workers per 100,000 population. while high income countries have 62 people per hundred thousand inhabitants
Based on an example of the ratio of psychiatrists and psychologists in 11 countries from different regions in 2020, Western European countries led by Switzerland It has the highest ratio of psychiatrists to population, which is 47.17 per 100,000 of the population. In Asia, Japan and South Korea have the highest suicide rates. from developed countries The ratio of psychiatrists per 100,000 of the population is 12.55 and 7.91.
- Where are the Thai psychology resources?
The latest data from the Department of Mental Health (July 6, 65) indicates that Thailand has a total of 845 psychiatrists, which represents 1.28 psychiatrists per 100,000 of the population. And there are 1,037 psychologists, or 1.57 per 100,000 of the population. This data shows that the number of mental health workers in Thailand is 10.15 less than the global average with various conditions There are many psychiatric disorders in Thai society.
- Mental Health Personnel in ASEAN
For countries in South East Asia Only Singapore has a high ratio of 4.7 psychiatrists per 100,000 of the population. considered the highest in the ASEAN region One reason is that it is also a high income country. In terms of the overview of the South East Asia region the median ratio of psychiatrists to 100,000 of the population was 0.4 and psychologists was 0.3.
In Malaysia, the ratio of psychiatrists and psychologists is 1.21 and 0.56 per 100,000 population. In the Philippines, the ratio of psychiatrists and psychologists is 0.22 and 0.08 per 100,000 of the population.
From the above ratio, although in the ASEAN region, Thailand may have more mental health personnel than neighboring countries. But compared to the global ratio, it is still considered low, even though Thailand is not a low-income country.
If there are no personnel to be added in this department in the future It will affect the number of psychiatric and depression patients in Thailand to increase rapidly. due to a lack of access to patient care for psychiatrists and psychologists with a small number compared to the number of patients causing patients to access care or receive inadequate care
Therefore, there are not enough public health resources. This is another major problem that is important in solving government problems. It is not only about preventing and reducing the number of psychiatric and depressive patients. but we must also consider the problem of inequality in terms of unequal health resources in all areas.
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References: Rocket Media Lab, Department of Mental Health and WHO
