Objectives

Following months of field research and stemming from a similar report we conducted for the wider Asia-Pacific region (link here), KPMG, in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson, are proud to release our call-to-action for Southeast Asia policy leaders on the topic of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). 

MDD is one of the leading causes of disability in the region, yet receives a disproportionately small share of resource attention.  Rather than addressing MDD as a monolithic challenge, we suggest to Southeast Asia policy leaders to seek to better understand the “spectrum” of sub-type conditions that drive the rapidly rising rate of people suffering a form of MDD.  Such a topic is even more relevant during the pandemic, during which we’ve observed calls to help hotline grow exponentially.