Action grants to support implementation of best practices on the ground with direct impact on the effort to tackle mental health challenges during COVID-19

EXPECTED RESULTS AND IMPACT

It is expected that the implementation of best practices to address mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example targeting mental health in schools, will have a direct impact on the effort to reduce the burden in the Member States and will support health professionals and improve awareness.

The short-term impact would be achieved through an increased number of public health interventions being scaled up in all Member States and improvements in disease prevention and health promotion, and management policies, and awareness-building and training capacity for health professionals to strengthen the capacity and capabilities to address the mental health impact of health crisis. The long-term impact would be the identification of solutions to tackle specific mental health issues, both at personal and societal level. Networking between experts will also provide benefits for developing and improving public health policies.

SPECIFIC MANDATORY DELIVERABLES AND/OR MILESTONES

Activities to be funded will include the transfer of promising practices such as those presented at the high-level conference on the mental health impact of the pandemic (May 2021) to meet mental health needs that emerged or were exacerbated as a consequence of the pandemic. These practices can be targeted at one or more specific groups, such as vulnerable groups, including health care workers, social workers, migrants, people with pre-existing mental health problems, older people, children and youth in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Best practice transfer is to be implemented through pilot projects, and in consultation with representatives from the community or target group concerned. The activities will support stakeholders and service providers, especially those working at grassroots level, to strengthen community-based knowledge sharing, awareness and capacity building with a view to strengthening the response to the mental health impact of the pandemic, especially at local level.

Funded activities will also need to include a brief process evaluation of the implementation at the pilot sites, as well as a plan for further rollout of practice implementation in the participating countries. The project(s) should pilot transfer of promising practices and/or approaches, report on the results, deliver a brief process evaluation, and propose a plan for wider implementation in the Member States involved. A reflection on wider lessons learned from the various pilots also as regards opportunities and relevance for further implementation in other EU countries is considered as a plus.

SPECIFIC ACTION-LEVEL INDICATORS FOR REPORTING PURPOSES

Applicants must include data on the following indicators in their regular reporting activities in case of award, and must be prepared to include additional specific indicators where needed:

Promising practices and/or approaches:

- Number of stakeholder organisations involved (hospitals, long-term care facilities, schools, etc,…)

- Number of vulnerable groups, including health care workers and/or social workers, migrants, people with pre-existing mental health problems, older people, children and youth involved

- Number of targeted groups reached

- Number and types of dissemination material produced (e.g. n. of brochures, leaflets, web page)

- Number of stakeholders outreached by awareness activities.

POLICY CONTEXT

Mental health is an integral and essential component of health. It is critical to individual wellbeing, as well as to social and economic participation. The heavy individual, economic and social burdens of mental illness are not inevitable.

In 2018, approximately 13.5% of hospital beds in the Union were psychiatric care beds with wide disparities between the Member States in the number of beds per 100 000 inhabitants. Although many Member States have policies and programmes to address mental illness at different ages, the distribution of these actions is uneven throughout the life course. Fewer countries have programmes targeting the mental health of unemployed people and older people. The total costs of mental health account for more than 4% of GDP across the Member States (Health at a Glance: Europe 2018). Therefore, addressing mental health challenges through the identification and transfer of best practices and implementation of relevant research results is a necessary priority.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has immediate and long-term consequences, including on mental health, which require action. The Commission Communication ‘Short-term EU health preparedness for COVID-19 outbreaks^[1]’ calls to support the roll-out of practices that address the mental health impact of COVID-19 and have a potential for improvements and to support health professionals as well as NGOs focusing on mental health challenges during the pandemic. Best practices, which are developed and implemented successfully in one country, can be transferred to other countries with a concrete, direct, positive impact for citizens, health systems and society.

This action supports the policy objective of reducing the burden of NCDs and meets the following the EU4Health Programme’s general objective of improving and fostering health in the Union (Article 3, point (a)) through the specific objectives in Article 4, points (a) and (i) of Regulation (EU) 2021/522.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the action is to increase awareness, knowledge sharing and capacity building in the area of mental health.

SCOPE AND ACTIVITIES

Activities will include the transfer of practices shared within the Health Policy Platform network on ‘COVID-19 mental health support’. The Commission has set up a dedicated space on ‘COVID19 mental health support’ within the Health Policy Platform. This allows interested stakeholder organisations to come together to discuss and exchange mental health practices and knowledge. Coordinated by Mental Health Europe, the group includes a focus on the needs of specific and/or vulnerable groups, including children and young people. In addition to exchanging practices, the network on ‘COVID-19 mental health support’ will increase awareness, knowledge sharing and support for health professionals’ training, including the development of necessary guidance and/or training material, such as video tutorials, manuals, etc.

[1] Short-term EU health preparedness for covid-19 outbreak communication: communication_-_short-term_eu_health_preparedness.pdf (europa.eu)