Mental Health and COVID-19: Policies, Guidelines, and Initiatives from the Asia-Pacific Region

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020 due to rapid intercontinental spread and high morbidity and mortality. Globally, the disease has had a major impact on human lives, including health, economic, employment, psychological, and overall well-being. The COVID-19, besides causing respiratory, neurological, and cardiovascular diseases, has had significant impact on mental health. Major mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, and stress, have risen in parallel with increasing prevalence of COVID-19. Many population groups, including children, the elderly, those with chronic illnesses, and health care workers, have been affected. This review gives an overall assessment of the prevalence of COVID-19-associated psychological morbidity. In countries in the Asia-Pacific region, prevalence of depression ranged between 4.9% and 43.1%, anxiety from 7.0 to 43.0%, and stress from 3.4% to 35.7%. As COVID-19 continues to severely affect the psychosocial well-being of the population at large, countries have developed and revised policies, guidelines, and introduced new initiatives to curb mental health issues among their citizens. In the long run, pre-disaster preparedness is important to alleviate long-term post-pandemic psychiatric morbidity and to develop psychological resilience toward disasters and pandemic, alongside investment for better mental health coverage.

Enhanced wellbeing of Pacific Island peoples during the pandemic? A qualitative analysis using the Advanced Frangipani Framework

“…Tourism-dependent communities were thus chosen as the key population of interest in this study because we were aware that most tourism employees and business-owners had faced significant financial losses, and we wanted to see if this corresponded with declines in their overall wellbeing. Certainly it would be easy to assume that, given the Pacific's heavy dependence on the international tourism industry, and the sustained absence of this industry over a two year period, people's wellbeing in these countries would be at an all-time low (Kumar & Patel, 2022;Samy et al, 2021). However, the research findings herein, based on a survey conducted between October 2021 and January 2022, suggest almost the opposite.…”

Mental Health in the Post-Lockdown Scenario: A Scientometric Investigation of the Main Thematic Trends of Research

“…For instance, Sasaki et al [ 121 ] reported that, following the evidence based on pre-disaster preparedness adopted in Japan for earthquakes and tsunamis, investing in preventive instrumental and emotional support might be beneficial to mitigate the onset of mental disorders in the case of traumatic events. Moreover, Samy et al [ 85 ] described a series of health protocols implemented in Asian countries to provide psychological support and establish a strategic plan for guaranteeing mental health services, even during extended domestic isolation or with reduced accessibility to hospitals. The need to find short-term solutions to buffer the critical pandemic situation has led to the adoption of hybrid interventions and the reinforcement of telemedicine, activating, for instance, 24/7 phone helplines [ 80 , 85 ].…”

Learning and happiness during Covid-19 school closure in urban Malaysia

“…4 As per the government’s National Strategic Plan for Mental Health 2020–2025, there is no school children specific mental health catch up policy during the pandemic. While the Ministry of Health has published a guideline titled “COVID-19 Mental Health Kit—In Hospital Setting and Quarantine Centre”, it is exclusively for patients and health care workers ( Samy et al, 2021 ). In general, there is a lack of availability of child- and adolescent-friendly multidisciplinary care for mental health conditions in Malaysia ( UNICEF, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Burnet Institute, 2022 ).…”