Over 280 million people worldwide suffer from depression and 301 million people from anxiety disorders, while global suicide (up to 700,000 deaths per year) is a leading cause of death in young people. Mental health problems also have a big health socio-economic impact on societies. This is while mental disorders are the leading cause of years lived with disability, accounting for one in every six (15.6%) years lived with disability (YLD)s globally.
As regards the specific needs of children and young people, Icehearts Europe and Let’s Talk About Children, target the improvement of mental health and wellbeing of young people. This action brings 21 Member States together and is supported by a financial contribution of EUR 5.4 million. Already before the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 in 6 people in the EU suffered from mental health issues, at a cost of 4% of GDP. One out of every two individuals dealing with a mental health issue did not seek assistance from a professional. There is an unequal distribution of mental health problems between population groups, with depression being more prevalent among women and in population groups with lower income and education levels. Describing behavioral interventions within a prevention frame, which focuses not only on the immediate benefits of service delivery but also on how those benefits cascade across developmental pathways to avert negative outcomes across domains, has promise.
Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030
Some research showed an increase in treatment access as a result of the implementation of community-oriented policies . For example, many IHS California Behavioral Health Resources of the HICs effectively closed down mental hospitals and successfully transferred patients to community-based mental health organizations by the 2000s. In the 1990s, the policy content of MLICs was further enriched, and every policy domain was mentioned by at least one or two countries, but without obvious focuses.
Content analysis
However, there are a number of challenges that both high-income (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face in implementing their MHPPs (Zhou et al., 2018), such as limited access to financial and human resources (WHO, 2015) and low public mental health literacy (Campion and Knapp, 2018). Greater focus should also be put on the prevention and promotion of mental health, as this seems an area that is currently underdeveloped based on activities reported in MHPPs. The question of accountability for this process also arises – without a mechanism for ensuring implementation quality, it becomes difficult to prioritize and report on monitoring and evaluation activities. This includes how to feasibly measure and gather information about the extent of policy implementation and the ’success’ of a process that may take up to a decade to fully realize. However, establishing a standardized quality of care nationally and evaluation at the national level may be difficult to achieve.
Careers at NIMH
- The guidance serves as a resource for policymakers and practitioners to implement effective and equitable mental health services.
- In 2013, the adoption of the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 by the 66th World Health Assembly would promote further development of mental health policies across the world.
- Human resources and training in mental health
- Explore NIMH research training and career development opportunities.
- To read the Strategic Plan in full, please visit /strategicplan.
The authors suggest that such “a mapping review will inform policy implementation and evaluation in the WHO European Region” (p. 3) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global and European Mental Health Action Plans in 2013 since many countries introduced new national MHPPs. Some studies indicated low prioritisation of mental health and stigma as barriers; others reported weak management and poor intersectoral collaboration, difficult political context and the complex nature of interventions as factors hindering policy implementation. Only three studies assessed all three categories of implementation (progress, process and impact) and they were all non-academic assessments of suicide prevention strategies. Study participants varied across studies and included, depending on the context, users and families, service providers, traditional healers, agencies and organisations involved in the implementation, government and international policymakers. Summary of identified studies assessing the impact of mental health policies and plans We used WHO definitions of a mental health policy, which is referred to ‘an organized set of values, principles and objectives for improving mental health and reducing the burden of mental disorders in a population and defines a vision for future action’.
Momentum is growing globally for rights-based, person-centered, and recovery-oriented mental health policies and action plans, ensuring equitable access to quality services within Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The primary care package includes 12 consultations, diagnostic follow-up, psychoeducation, and psychosocial support provided by mental health outpatient facilities for medicine access sites. Read the report – Guidance on mental health policy and strategic action plans