{"id":2925,"date":"2024-10-30T10:51:23","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T10:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/?p=2925"},"modified":"2024-10-30T10:51:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T10:51:23","slug":"growth-obsessed-economy-creating-unseen-mental-health-crisis-for-people-in-poverty-un-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/?p=2925","title":{"rendered":"Growth-obsessed economy creating \u2018unseen mental health crisis\u2019 for people in poverty: UN expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Government policies designed to drive economic growth are taking a devastating toll on the mental health of people in poverty, according to a\u00a0new report<\/a>\u00a0by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter.<\/p>\n

De Schutter warned that increasing GDP at all costs was creating a \u201ctidal wave of mental ill health\u201d among people in poverty. While\u00a0970 million people<\/a>, or 11% of the world\u2019s population, experience a mental health condition, those on lower incomes are up to\u00a0three times<\/a>\u00a0more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and other common mental illnesses than those with the highest incomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mental health impacts of living in a world in thrall to growth, obsessed with productivity and competitiveness, are increasingly recognised as contributing to \u2018burnout\u2019 among white-collar professionals,\u201d De Schutter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet it is people living in poverty, working mostly in informal or precarious jobs, that suffer from this condition the most, while having the least resources to cope \u2013 creating a mental health crisis that is largely ignored and unseen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0details how changes in working conditions and moves to \u2018flexibilise\u2019 labour have played a major role in the increase of mental health problems affecting people on low incomes. Decisions taken \u201cin the pursuit of growth\u201d to push workers towards less standard forms of employment have resulted in fewer long-term employment contracts, more \u2018casual\u2019 or \u2018self-employed\u2019 part-time work and, as a result, reduced worker protections and wages.<\/p>\n

\u201cShockingly, in today\u2019s 24\/7 gig economy, unemployment can sometimes be a healthier option than taking a job,\u201d De Schutter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile unemployment can increase the risk of mental health conditions, doing precarious work has been found to lead to even worse mental health outcomes \u2013 due to insecurity, lack of bargaining power, unfair pay and wildly unpredictable work schedules which make it impossible to manage a healthy work-life balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expert called on governments to urgently address the rise of precarious work, putting legal protections in place to guarantee\u00a0decent work<\/a>\u00a0and a\u00a0living wage<\/a>. He advocated for scheduling regulations that would provide workers with advance notice of their work schedules and compensation if these change, as well as improving economic security by guaranteeing a minimum number of hours to part-time workers.<\/p>\n

Economic security could also be provided through strengthening social protection, the report finds, including through introducing a universal basic income (unconditional cash payments to all), an initiative which has been proven to improve mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur obsession with growth has created a burnout economy \u2013 a race to increase the profits of a tiny elite in which millions of people have been made too sick to run,\u201d the Special Rapporteur said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of combating poverty, \u2018growthism<\/a>\u2019 has led us down a path of extreme economic inequality \u2013 with disastrous consequences for rich and poor alike, as more unequal societies suffer higher rates of depression, anxiety and other mental health problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is only by addressing this broken economic system, and by putting well-being above the endless quest for more, that we can begin to seriously address poverty and the mental health crisis that accompanies it.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/press-releases\/2024\/10\/growth-obsessed-economy-creating-unseen-mental-health-crisis-people-poverty<\/a><\/p>\n

25 October 2024<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u00a0\u2013 Government policies designed to drive economic growth are taking a devastating toll on the mental health of people in poverty, according to a\u00a0new report\u00a0by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter. De Schutter…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-2925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vesti","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2927,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions\/2927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2925"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthrights.mk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_series&post=2925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}