We all have mental health, and we all experience good and not good mental health at different times in our lives. But what is mental health? And what do we mean when we talk about global mental health?

‘Mental health’ is a blanket term for mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). That includes our emotional, psychological and social well being – affecting everything from how we think, feel and act, to how we handle stress, relate to others and make decisions.

We’re concerned with lessening mental health suffering worldwide through the prevention, care and treatment of mental ill health and substance-use disorders. We primarily work on mental health but we also find opportunities to support those working on ‘brain health’ including neurological conditions such as dementia or epilepsy. 

When we talk about global mental health, and more importantly, improving global mental health, we’re talking about our big defining goal: to improve the mental health of every person around the world at a global and national level – particularly low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Mental health services have traditionally focused on addressing mental health disorders, but we believe it’s equally important to uphold the right of every individual to access mental health and psychosocial support – this is particularly true during emergencies and in large
conflict settings.

The Covid-19 pandemic elevated and amplified the global conversation about mental ill health. And over the course of the next few years we expect that conversation to continue. Mental health will remain a concern among the public, and a point of discussion among families and communities, in schools and in workplaces. Parents and children will continue to demand better mental health support; and employers will accelerate efforts to achieve better workplace mental health.

However, around the world, government commitments to act may wane without significant additional pressure by the mental health community due to competing needs and limited public funding. The IMF projects a “great divergence” in economic recovery from the pandemic due to lack of access to vaccines and reduced trade and investment. This means the very poorest countries are likely to fall further behind economically and this is likely to negatively impact mental health. Hence a focus on these countries is particularly important to helping ensure everyone’s right to good mental health is upheld.