Costs of perinatal mental health problems

Perinatal mental health problems carry a total economic and social long-term cost to society of about £8.1 billion for each one-year cohort of births in the UK. Written with the London School of Economics, our report also finds that the NHS would need to spend just £337 million a year to bring perinatal mental health care up to the level recommended in national guidance. The report is part of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance's ‘Everyone's Business' campaign, which calls on national Government and local health commissioners to ensure that all women throughout the UK who experience perinatal mental health problems, receive the care they and their families need, wherever and whenever they need it.