Report: Mental health among toughest global health challenges

Abstract

A new global health care report finds that medicine affordability, mental health and continued opioid abuse stand as the toughest challenges to global health today, according to a press release from Kantar Health. The findings are part of Kantar Health's 2018 edition of The Global Health and Wellness Report (GHWR), a comprehensive, patient‐centric examination of global health care that provides unique insights on the most pressing health challenges facing populations in the United States; the European Union Five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom); Japan; and the key growth markets of China, Brazil and Russia. The 2018 GHWR covers more than three million patient survey responses on the true impact of approximately 200 health conditions and thousands of subsegments. Among its findings: Opioid use increased in 27 U.S. states from 2011 to 2017, the rate of U.S. adults contemplating suicide has dramatically risen from 2011 to 2017, and the United Kingdom and United States rank highest in adults reporting depression. “Each year certain dynamics take shape as key influencers of global health, and in 2018, our research points to five pillars [affordability, pain, mental illness, health tech and growth markets] around which the most impactful issues affecting global health and wellness are coalescing today,” said Kantar Health's Michael Fronstin, general manager of the Real World Evidence Team.