A new era for mental health philanthropy in Asia?

Wellbeing relates to how people feel during and about their lives. At Bloom, we believe that mental health is a critical component of an individual’s overall wellbeing and can impact one’s life satisfaction and happiness. 

The World Health Organization estimates that over 1 billion people worldwide are experiencing mental health disorders. Moreover, over 75% of people with mental health disorders live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where effective, low-cost treatments are available but treatment is hampered by extremely limited resource allocations.

Philanthropic funding for mental health has historically been minimal. Studies indicate only 0.5% of philanthropic giving in the global health development sector was allocated to mental health initiatives. This data underscores a significant underinvestment in mental health compared to its global health impact and highlights the need for increased philanthropic support to address the growing mental health challenges worldwide.

New developments in evidence-based mental health in Asia

Applying evidence-based approaches to address the global mental health crisis has been slowly gaining momentum over the past few years. However, in Asia, awareness of evidence-based mental health initiatives is still relatively nascent. 

In the region, poor mental health is the second leading cause of disability-related years lost. A rising percentage of adults across the region experience a diagnosable mental disorder each year, ranging from 4% in Singapore to 20% in Vietnam, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. In countries such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia, prevalence rates have been increasing. 

Due to the neglectedness of mental health as a cause area in Asia, Bloom collaborated with the Duke-NUS Global Health Institute in Singapore to support the Global Mental Health in Asia 2025 Symposium. The flagship event, the first in Asia to focus on evidence-based global mental health innovations was supported by a wide range of international development and philanthropy partners (including The World Bank, Musim Mas and INSEAD), bringing together 300 funders, non-profit leaders, policymakers, researchers and mental health practitioners representing 25 countries, with 92% of attendees from Asia. 

The keynote presentation was given by Professor Vikram Patel from Harvard University, and Co-Founder of Sangath, a non-profit organisation delivering equitable, low-cost, evidence-based psychosocial programming to treat depression and anxiety in India and other LMICs. Sangath is also grant recipient of the Bloom Wellbeing Fund. He shared that psychosocial interventions are backed by a large number of randomised controlled trials and are often the most effective treatment for many mental health disorders, in both low and high-resource settings. Introducing findings from the Healthy Activity Program (HAP), a flagship WHO-recommended intervention that Sangath pioneered, he showed that front-line non-specialists (lay counsellors) can be trained to deliver psychosocial interventions to an equivalent level to that of mental health specialists. This task-shifting model is what makes the HAP programme highly scalable, low-cost and enables countries with limited mental health professionals to allocate resources more efficiently. Revealingly, the key factor that psychosocial interventions need to succeed relies, for the most part, on resources every country already has: people who care for others in their community.

Another highlight of the symposium was a workshop for funders facilitated by Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) on how to transform mental health funding and elevate youth voices. In LMICs, around 90% of young people’s mental health needs are unmet as a consequence of limited resource allocation. The workshop organisers are a non-profit innovation platform that supports start-ups and organisations in emerging markets to develop long-term, stand-alone solutions to global health and humanitarian challenges. The workshop brought together funders, mostly family offices, private foundations, and philanthropic funds, to introduce good practices and frameworks for youth engagement in their funding mechanisms, including the 7P model, Hart’s ladder, and other lessons from Being, an initiative-funded and implemented by GCC to promote improved youth mental health and wellbeing in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and other LMICs.

Bloom also partnered with the Duke-NUS Global Health Institute in Singapore to provide opportunities for non-profit leaders, practitioners and researchers to learn about the theory and practice of measuring subjective wellbeing through the Bloom Wellbeing Fellowship Programme. The Fellowship Programme allowed applicants to gain access to a new online certification course on measuring wellbeing, designed and delivered by the Happier Lives Institute, a leading think tank specialising in wellbeing research and technical support. The certification will introduce approaches to incorporate wellbeing measurements into impact evaluations and facilitate discussions with funders. Bloom and Duke-NUS also provided travel grants to support 10 attendees from low and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa to attend the symposium and learn about current developments in mental health innovation in Asia. 

For more information about the Global Mental Health in Asia Symposium, see the event website. If you’d like to learn more about mental health philanthropy, please contact the Bloom team at hello@bloomwellbeing.fund.