World
Mental Health Day
Mental
health care for all: let's make it a reality
The overall objective of World
Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the
world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health.
The Day provides an opportunity for
all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and
what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people
worldwide.
On World Mental Health Day, 10
October, it will have been more than 18 months since the start of the COVID-19
pandemic. In some countries, life is returning to some semblance of normality;
in others, rates of transmission and hospital admissions remain high,
disrupting the lives of families and communities.
In all countries, the pandemic has
had a major impact on people’s mental health. Some groups, including health and
other frontline workers, students, people living alone, and those with
pre-existing mental health conditions, have been particularly affected. At the same time, a WHO survey conducted in
mid-2020 clearly showed that services for mental, neurological and substance
use disorders had been significantly disrupted during the pandemic.
Yet there is some cause for
optimism. During the World Health Assembly in May 2021, governments from around
the world recognized the need to scale up quality mental health services at all
levels and endorsed WHO’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030,
including the Plan’s updated implementation options and indicators for
measuring progress.
It’s time to capitalize on this
renewed energy among government leaders to make quality mental health care for
all a reality.
World Mental Health Day presents an
opportunity for government leaders, civil society organizations and many others
to talk about the steps they are already taking and that they intend to take in
support of this goal.
