A new series of events focusing on Mental Health Economics got off to a great start with an engaging lecture by Dr. David McDaid, a well-known expert on Health Policy and Health Economics based at LSE.
David spoke about issues regarding the mental health of refugees and efforts to address their mental health problems. One point of interesting debate was the potentially positive impact refugees can have on host nations in the long term if they are well looked after.
He commented that "refugees and migrants have a wealth of experience - if host countries invest a little more in their mental well-being, they could be assets to the human resource bank of the country.” Undergraduate and postgraduate students from different schools within Queen Mary attended, which engendered a lively debate both during and after the presentation.
One of the student attendees said: “Post-COVID-19 conversations have never been complete without the mention of Mental Health - it's intriguing when experts lead these conversations with findings from their research. I found the lecture to be very insightful."
Dr. Francesca Cornaglia, co-director of the newly launched MSc in Mental Health Economics said of the event: "These are clearly important and sometimes controversial issues, and it was great to see how the broad diversity of the student body provided multiple perspectives to the debate. This is something unique to Queen Mary University of London of which we are proud."
The series of events will continue in the New Year. To register for future events, click here.