our panellists emphasised how the criminalisation of suicide continues to be a key issue across the field of global mental health. Earlier

Approximately 66 million women on the African continent are experiencing depression, and due to lack of investment, about 85% of these women have no access to effective treatment.

For instance, this year’s results of the mental health screening of refugees passing along the Balkan route (PIN, 2021) show that 85% of refugees are psychologically vulnerable, i.e., are in need of psychological support or mental health care, which reveals a negative trend in the overall psychological vulnerability when compared to previous years.

This year Pakistan’s federal Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives launched a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) initiative.

It was clear from all of our speakers that closing the mental health data gap is crucial to stepping up progress for mental health globally, and that there is an urgent need to strengthen systems and capacity building around this.

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

Earlier in the week, we had the pleasure to welcome our viewers to a webinar entitled Substance use and mental health: challenges, opportunities and first lessons during the COVID-19 outbreak. The session was part of the ongoing series, co-hosted by United for Global Mental Health and its partners, and was organised with the support of the WHO.

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.

Together with the Lancet Psychiatry, Mental Health Innovation Network, MHPSS.net, and with support from members of the Global Mental Health Network, we devised a new, weekly webinar series bringing in mental health policy makers and practitioners, advocates with lived experience, and researchers exploring the latest on COVID-19, to discuss and share the latest knowledge on COVID-19 and mental health.

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

Psychosis is not very visible in the global mental health discussion, which is actually quite surprising, as governments tend to think that psychosis should be a priority and their budgets tend to be allocated to this.

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.