Only 2% of national budgets and less than 1% of all international health aid is spent on mental health, according to a report by the World Health Organization.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) calls on all nations to invest more in mental health. Before Covid-19, nearly a billion people lived with a mental disorder, underlines the United Nations agency, Friday June 17, in its largest study on the subject carried out in two decades. But, during the first year of the pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety rose by a quarter and investment did not follow.
Only 2% of national budgets and less than 1% of all international health aid is spent on mental health, according to the WHO report. “All these numbers are very, very low”, said Mark Van Ommeren, of the mental health unit of the WHO, during a press conference. This report highlights how “the suffering is enormous” around the world, he added.
The document states that approximately one in eight people in the world lives with a mental disorder. It’s worse for those living in conflict zones, where it’s estimated that one in five people suffers from a mental health problem. The report also highlights wide gaps between countries in access to care: while more than 70% of people with psychoses receive treatment in high-income countries, this rate drops to 12% in low-income countries. revenue. “Investing in mental health is an investment in a better life and future for all”insists the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.