With Health forming a big part of the agenda of the forum’s various events, sessions and high level meetings, there were some encouraging inroads for mental health. 

The Global Mental Health Action Network is excited to launch a new Working Group on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), recognizing the importance of working towards integrating Mental Health into UHC, which has been highlighted as a key tenet of sustainable development per SDG 3.8. There

The two weeks of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) are a key moment in the global calendar for advocacy groups to create awareness, debate and media attention on critical issues relating to the SDGs, climate, human rights and development.

Women’s reproductive and sexual health cannot be separated from their mental health. If we are serious about parity of mental and physical health, we need integration.

In 2020, the founder of mental health venture capital organisation What If Ventures, Stephen Hayes, documented that mental health startups were approaching 1,000 in number.

Women with mental health conditions in Ghana often struggle to access maternal health services, which leaves them at higher risk during pregnancy and child birth.

The mental health movement that started in Cameroon in 2015 has completely changed how mental health is perceived and practiced.

A new free online course on Basic Psychosocial Skills has been made available by the WHO CC UTS.

Last week The Global Mental Health Action Network held their virtual Annual Meeting. Open to their membership of over 1300 individuals from over 100 countries, the meeting was held between 2nd and 3rd June. 

Burnout was a massive challenge even before the Covid-19 pandemic. A 2015 study found that workplace stress and burnout contributed to at least 120,000 deaths in the US each year, for example, with additional costs of up to $190 billion or 8% of national spending on health care annually.

YCN is a four month module conceived with the objectives of building capacities and providing support to youth leaders in order for them to deliver psychosocial first aid services for their peers.

On 2nd and 3rd June, the Global Mental Health Action Network is hosting its Annual Meeting. This is a key opportunity for network members to engage with one another, learn from others and inspire advocacy for the coming year, and this year it will be fully virtual.

Lived experience is not a one-dimensional checkbox to check. We lived experiencer-s are also diverse. Some of us want to share our stories, some approach the experience with precision science, some might not want to say anything at all. It is time to acknowledge and respect this.

Together, we need to advocate for resources and a new pathway of care for our COVID-19 positive patients suffering from mental illness so that they do not continue to suffer alone.

Ahead of this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) - the decision making body of the World Health Organisation - members of the Global Mental Health Action Network lay out why mental health for all by 2030 must be a key aim of the Assembly. 

What are the mental health effects of the pandemic for all of us, for the whole population? Research in recent months has painted a picture of more prolonged and more generalised damage to public mental health.

As we seek to recover from the pandemic and prepare to face its long-term impacts, finance ministers have the chance to set the stage for decades of sustainable development ahead.

With the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (Spring Meetings) fast approaching, the secretariat and finance working group members of the Global Mental Health Action Network have been working to ensure mental health takes a leading role on the global stage. 

UHC means that everyone, everywhere should be able to access the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. But today we are faced with a coverage gap of care and services for common mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, of up to 90% in some countries.