Opening Address by President Halimah Yacob at the Third Asia Pacific Virtual Conference and Meeting on Mental Health

Ms Ellen Lee, President of Silver Ribbon (Singapore)

Board members of Silver Ribbon (Singapore)

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning. A very warm welcome to the international delegates who are joining us virtually today. It is my pleasure to be here to launch the third Asia Pacific Conference and Meeting on Mental Health.

The two-day Conference will bring together mental health advocates, practitioners and professionals to network and exchange views on the best practices and solutions to address mental health issues.

It is particularly timely to mobilise efforts in support of mental health now, because COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges of mental health. 

Safe distancing measures and the sense of uncertainty have increased stress and social isolation of many people around the world. A recent study reported in Nature revealed a rise in the prevalence of mental health issues globally since the start of the pandemic. For instance, in the United Kingdom, the percentage of adults who reported symptoms of depression has almost doubled during the COVID-19 period. The situation is even more dire in the United States, with the percentage quadrupling during a similar period.

Based on published studies on global mental health, Singapore fared better during the pandemic compared to the United States and United Kingdom, as well as other Asian countries such as Japan and Hong Kong. But we still see a similar trend here. The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) received 50 percent more calls for help in 2020 than in 2019, with a peak in April 2020, coinciding with the start of our Circuit Breaker period. A recent cross-sectional study on the well-being and resilience of local population by IMH found that about 13 percent of those surveyed suffer from depression or anxiety between May 2020 and June 2021. These statistics remain a concern because mental distress, if left unattended, may intensify and fester into a mental illness.

The Singapore Government has recently announced the setting up of a new inter-agency task force to oversee our national efforts in promoting mental health and well-being. Comprising senior representatives from the social service, health, education and manpower agencies, this platform is important as it will work on setting up systems and structures to provide holistic psychosocial support for persons with mental health conditions.

Indeed, the cross-cutting nature of mental health issues requires not just a whole-of-government approach, but also a whole-of-nation effort in helping persons with mental health conditions. Beyond the Government, there is scope for the community to play a larger role in the continuum of care. For example, if given the necessary support, Social Service Agencies (SSAs) may be in a good position to provide care in a community setting to persons with mental health conditions, given their close proximity to homes and connection with the ground. This is an area where I hope our social sector can step up and help to amplify government-led efforts. This new model of care has the potential to revolutionise our approach to mental healthcare.

President’s Challenge (PC) designated mental health as our focus area in 2018. I am glad that since then, PC has allocated close to $1.8 million to support 12 programmes in this important area of work.

To help uplift the capabilities of the social sector, I recently invited IMH to partner PC in developing a pilot curriculum that can better prepare SSAs in the case management of youths with mental health conditions. We have decided to focus on youths for a start, as I am particularly concerned about the challenges faced by our younger generation. Over the five-year period from 2015 to 2020, the number of adolescents seen at IMH for depression has increased by about 60%. Anecdotally, we also hear of more students facing stress-related issues over time. We need to do something urgently, as a community, to arrest this trend. I urge our SSAs to join us in this project to help our youths who are facing mental distress.

In closing, I wish everyone a fruitful Conference. Let us work together to share ideas and resources, so as to find more effective ways of reaching out and supporting those in need.

Thank you.