
==== Front
Int J Prev Med
Int J Prev Med
IJPVM
Int J Prev Med
International Journal of Preventive Medicine
2008-7802
2008-8213
Wolters Kluwer - Medknow India

IJPVM-15-36
10.4103/ijpvm.ijpvm_351_23
Letter to Editor
Adverse Impact of Socioeconomic Status and Economic Issues on Mental Health in the Philippines
Embalsado Justin Vianey M. 123
1 Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Angeles University Foundation, Philippines
2 Health sciences program, Graduate Studies, Angeles University Foundation, Philippines
3 Psychology Program, Graduate School, Angeles University Foundation, Angeles City, Philippines
Address for correspondence: Mr. Justin Vianey M. Embalsado, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Angeles University Foundation, Angeles City - 2009, Philippines. E-mail: embalsado.justinvianey@auf.edu.ph
2024
12 8 2024
15 3621 12 2023
08 1 2024
Copyright: © 2024 International Journal of Preventive Medicine
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
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pmcDear Editor,

In 2018, the Mental Health Act was passed into Law. The Philippine Mental Health Act aims to promote positive mental health and provide mental health services to all Filipinos. However, due to limited financial, human, and physical resources, the implementation of the Mental Health Act has been challenging and perceived as a made-up “act,” even though the act aims to provide the rights of patients to be free from discrimination and receive human treatments.[1] The limitations in funding, public and private facilities, and mental health professionals made both specialized and non-specialized programs difficult to access.[2]

The Philippine government only spends less than 1% (.22%) or 12.19 PHP per capita. This implies that people with mental disorders should pay for their treatment. Recent statistics indicate that there are only 2,051 mental health professionals in private and public institutions.[3] In terms of facilities, there are 217 and 155, outpatient and inpatient facilities, respectively.[2] Furthermore, there are only 4.13 hospital beds allotted for every 100,000 Filipinos with the annual admission exceeding the ratio almost thrice (11.2) (WHO, 2018). The limited funding, professionals, and facilities make mental health services inaccessible to the people.[3]

The financial challenges of the people make it challenging to seek private professional help which may cost between 1000 PHP and 4500 PHP. The cost of private mental health services provides more reason to have affordable or free specialized and non-specialized mental health services and programs. There are affordable outpatient public and private mental health fees that may range from 100 PHP to 600 PHP for each consultation but securing a session or consultation in these institutions is difficult. PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance) excludes outpatient mental health services in their coverage.[4] The financial conditions hamper several Filipinos to receive mental health services along with the distress caused by their financial difficulties taking into consideration the 610 PHP minimum wage.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government loses up to 68.9 billion PHP per year due to mental health expenditures and loss of workforce. To regain the loss, the government is expected to invest 143 billion PHP in 10 years and gain 217 billion PHP in 10 years once a healthy life from mental health disorders is gained.[5] To address the economic toll of mental health to the people and to the economy, the government should increase the funding and improve their leadership in implementing the Mental Health Law.

Author contribution

JVE is the sole author of the article. He solely drafted, conceptualized, revised, and revised the article.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.
==== Refs
1 Maravilla N Tan M Philippine mental health act: Just an act?A call to look into the bi-directionality of mental health and economy Front Psychol 2021 12 706483 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.706483 34367032
2 WHO Global Health Observatory Data Repository 2018
3 WHO Mental Health Atlas 2017 Geneva World Health Organization 2018
4 Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department Underscoring the Mental Health Agenda in the Philippines Philippines House of Representative 2023
5 WHO Prevention and management of mental health conditions in the Philippines: The case for investment 2021
