World Mental Health Report: Business as usual for mental health simply will not do: WHO

What is the News?

The World Health Organization(WHO) has released the World Mental Health Report.

What are the key findings of the World Mental Health Report?

Mental Health Issues:  Almost a billion people or one in 8 people worldwide were living with some form of mental health issue in 2019. 

For some, this resulted in dying by suicide which accounted for one in 100 death with more than half of them happening before the age of 50.

Depression and anxiety spiked 25% in the first year of the pandemic (2020).

Moreover, those living with mental health issues live some two decades less than the general population.

Major Threats to Mental well-being: Covid-19 Pandemic, social and economic inequalities, public health emergencies, war and the climate crisis.

Access to Mental Health Care: Access to mental health services remains poor. Globally, 71% of psychosis patients don’t receive treatment. High-income countries provide treatment to 70% of psychosis patients and low-income countries manage the same for just 12%.

Only 2% of national health budgets and less than 1% of all international health aid goes to mental health.

All 194 WHO member states have adopted the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030, but progress has been slow.

Suggestions given by the report: The report has called for an end to the stigma attached to mental health. It lists three key ‘paths to transformation’ to quicken progress on the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030.

These include more focused investment in mental health, reshaping environments such as homes, communities, schools, workplaces and health care services that influence mental health and strengthening the quality of mental health care by diversifying it.

Source: The post is based on the article “Business as usual for mental health simply will not do: WHO” published in Down To Earth on 20th June 2022.