Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and Care for Mental Health Conditions in Jamaica: The investment case

Abstract

[Extract]. Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Mental Health (MH) conditions are major drivers of morbidity and mortality in Jamaica. Beyond the toll on health, they also impose a significant burden on the national economy since treatment for NCDs leads to high expenditures and individuals with NCDs or MH conditions are more likely to exit the labor force, miss days of work, and/or work at a reduced capacity. In addition, MH conditions generate high social costs as MH is critical to personal well-being, interpersonal relationships, and successful contributions to society. These two investment cases were developed to help strengthen Jamaica’s capacity to generate and use economic evidence on NCDs and MH in order to support the development, financing, and implementation of national multisectoral prevention and control strategies. They estimate the return on investment (ROI), over the next 15-year period, from implementing priority policy interventions for tobacco and alcohol control, clinical interventions to reduce cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and scaling up treatment for depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Though NCDs and MH conditions pose a significant health and economic burden, the results from these two investment cases show that Jamaica can significantly reduce this burden by investing in recommended interventions designed to improve NCDs and MH.