This year’s budget was one of those rare occasions when mental health got the attention of the Indian policy makers at the national level.

View our latest webinar on Covid-19 and mental health.

Climate Change is the greatest global health threat of the 21st century. The latest report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change cautioned “code red” for human health and has sparked widespread media attention, including concern over the health impacts of climate-induced food insecurity and infectious disease transmission.

If non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were a family, mental health would be the middle child, and I am not saying that because I am one. Mental health gets less than 1% of development aid funds[1] in a pool of funding that is not large to begin with.

o see true and lasting change, key actors and human rights defenders should play an active role in amplifying the voice of survivors and the LGBTQ+ community to advocate for the eradication of these harmful practices.

Our webinar The Effects of Conversion Therapy on the LGBTQIA+ Community, in the Mental Health For All series explored how members of the LGBTQIA+ community across the world are under pressure to be 'treated' for their sexual orientation and gender identity.

On Tuesday 25th January, 2022, our #MHForAll webinar series brought together a panel of experts to discuss what it means to have truly meaningful youth participation when it comes to mental health.

From ages 10-24, mental health conditions make up nearly half the overall burden of disease; 75% of mental health conditions emerge by age 24. These figures show that supporting the mental health of young people like us is imperative. 

At the World Health Assembly the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan was updated and agreed for 2021-2030, UNICEF launched its flagship State of the World’s Children Report (focusing on mental health for the first time ever) and there has been increasing research and reporting on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health. 

On 30th November, our #MentalHealthforAll webinar invited panellists to discuss the crucial need for the integration of mental health into universal health coverage (UHC) and the challenges faced at the national level in doing so.

A year ago this week, The Upswing Fund launched in response to an alarming decline in adolescent mental health exacerbated by COVID-19.

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.