«Despite very high costs to individuals and the economy, there is limited awareness about the connection between mental health and work…»
Patricio V. Marquez
Patricio V. Marquez, the keynote speaker of the WPA Thematic Congress “Mental Health at the Workplace”, notes that the “ripple effects” from the pandemic have compounded, deepened, and expanded the impact of rapid and disruptive economic and social changes that were already underway fostered by scientific and technological developments and their applications. He stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant toll on people’s mental health. A recent global study has estimated a significant increase in the prevalence of both major depressive and anxiety disorders among all gender types across the lifespan versus before the COVID-19 pandemic—a worrisome finding because these disorders were already leading causes of disability worldwide. Social restrictions, unemployment, financial instability, and school closures are among the COVID-19-related factors that have contributed to worsened mental health outcomes. What can be done to build social resilience and protect and keep people front and center of the development process? Patricio V. Marquez answers this question in the article “Mental Health and Wellbeing at the Workplace: Creating “Shared Value” in the Age of COVID-19”: http://www.pvmarquez.com/mentalhealthsharedvalue
About Patricio V. Marquez:
Patricio V. Marquez, originally from Cuenca, Ecuador, is a former World Bank Group (WBG) Lead Public Health Specialist. He retired in August 2019 after 32 years of service after working in over 80 countries across the world, and leading the Global Tobacco Taxation Program and the Global Mental Health Initiative (2015-2019). In March 2020, he returned to the WBG as Consultant to support the preparation and implementation of the US$6 billion COVID-19 Global Emergency Response Program in the health sector and the implementation of the US$12 billion Additional Financing for Vaccines and Vaccination across the world, as well as the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for the institution. He is a Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and serves as a Pledge Champion at the Tobacco Free Portfolios Foundation. In November 2021, he was elected to serve as a governing member of the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Conservation of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. He is a member of the External Advisory Board of the University of Washington Global Mental Health Program, and citiesRISE, a global platform committed to transforming the state of mental health policy and practice in cities and beyond.
