Becoming More Creative in the Middle of the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the disruption of mental health services while the demand for mental health services is growing.
By
Adhitya Ramadhan/B. Josie Susilo Hardianto
·4 minutes read
AFP/ROSLAN RAHMAN
This picture taken on April 7, 2021 shows blockchain entrepreneur Vignesh Sundaresan, also known by his pseudonym MetaKovan, showing the digital artwork non-fungible token (NFT) "Everydays: The First 5,000 Days" by artist Beeple in his home in Singapore. - Last month the programmer bought the world\'s most expensive NFT for $69.3 million, highlighting how virtual work is establishing itself as a new creative genre.
The pandemic has drastically changed the way people live. Amid the implementation of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), Kwon Joon has to divide his time juggling homework, friends and his personal YouTube channel; the teenager is often too busy to check his investments in the stock market.
In a world marred by uncertainties due to the economic impact of COVID-19, he believes online stock trading can protect his financial future.
“To be honest, I sometimes forget to check my stock account because of my school work or when I’m playing with my friends,” Kwon told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Jeju Island, South Korea.
Kwon has made 14 million won (US$12,525) in profits since he invested 25 million won in seed money in April 2020.
From South Korea to the United States, a growing number of teenagers and young adults born after 1996, dubbed Generation Z, is turning to online investment platforms that offer them the chance to make a living with a swipe. But the method often poses unforeseen risks.
Gen Z, around 2.5 billion people or 32 percent of the global population, has seen the global job market shredded by the pandemic, with soaring unemployment. Amid the frustration over lockdowns, some Gen Z-ers are trying their luck in the stock market.
In the US, Apex Clearing, which facilitates trades for brokerage companies, said it opened nearly 6 million accounts in 2020 — up 137 percent from 2019 — and about 1 million of those belonged to Gen Z investors.
AFP/GORDWIN ODHIAMBO
Artists of the local art project, Art 360, paint to complete the mural raising awareness on mental health and global climate changes in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 14, 2021.
However, not all of Gen Z can reap this "luxury". Young people in poor countries, such as Latin America and the Caribbean, must work harder. Reuters news agency reported on April 8 that one in six people aged 18-29 have been unemployed since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It is difficult for young people to access the labor market," said the director of the Colombian advocacy group, Alejandro Matos.
Getting worse
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), feelings of sadness, anxiety and despair have afflicted many young people as the result of the crisis. The proportion is greater than that in other age groups. As a result, their mental health deteriorates. The number of unemployed people aged 15-24 years has grown by 3.4 percent, almost twice that of people over 25 years of age.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the disruption of mental health services while the demand for mental health services is growing.
According to a 2020 survey conducted by the World Health Organization, mental health services in 93 percent of 130 countries under the survey were disrupted. In fact, the need for the service is creasing during the pandemic.
"Good mental health is absolutely fundamental to overall health and well-being,” said the director general of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
AFP PHOTO/ WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
This handout TV grab taken on January 5, 2021 shows World Health Organization (WHO) Ethiopian Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press briefing on Covid-19 (novel coronavirus) via video link from the WHO headquarters in Geneva.
Prior to the pandemic, mental health services did not receive sufficient funding. State budgets for this service are less than 2 percent of the total health budget. That leaves a wide gap.
Realizing this, the United Kingdom has allocated a budget of 500 million pounds ($688.665 million) for the Health Services Restoration Action Plan. The policy provides benefits for residents, including young people, with mild to severe mental health problems, such as anxiety.
As part of the action plan, the number of trained health personnel will be increased. In fact, psychiatrists will receive primary health facilities so that they can help patients with severe mental disorders.
In the May 16, 2020, edition of The Conversation, emeritus professor at the University of Melbourne, Australia, Anthony Jorm, wrote that the Australian federal government had set aside A$48.1 million ($37.13 million) for mental health programs . The funds will be used for research and data collection and to increase access for vulnerable people, as well as to finance the employment scheme, because mental health problems have also been triggered by the decrease in incomes.
The outreach aspect is crucial amid the pandemic. With limited mobility, there are innovations in long-distance health services, including those for mental health. As many as 70 percent of countries surveyed by WHO have adopted the services.
With the World Bank funding, PsycHealth Zambia, in partnering with local health ministry and other related agencies, has provides 24-hour free mental health services. (AP/AFP/REUTERS)
This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.
