New WHO Guidance Calls for Urgent Transformation of Mental Health Policies

New WHO Guidance Calls for Urgent Transformation of Mental Health Policies

On 25 March, the WHO launched a new guidance to help all countries reform and strengthen mental health policies and systems.

While effective prevention and treatment interventions exist, most people living with mental health conditions do not have access to these. The new WHO guidance sets out concrete actions to help countries close these gaps and ensure mental health is promoted and protected, with a focus on:

• protecting and upholding human rights, ensuring mental health policies and services are aligned with international human rights standards;
• promoting holistic care with an emphasis on lifestyle and physical health, psychological, social, and economic interventions;
• addressing social and economic factors that shape and affect mental health including employment, housing and education;
• implementing prevention strategies and promote population-wide mental health and well-being; and
• empowering people with lived experience to participate in policy planning and design to ensure mental health policies and services are responsive to their needs.

The guidance identifies five key policy areas requiring urgent reform: leadership and governance, service organization, workforce development, person-centred interventions, and addressing social and structural determinants of mental health.

By offering a menu of policy directives, strategies and actions to guide reform efforts, the guidance supports policy makers to prioritize and tailor policies to their specific national context, in line with their available resources and operational structures.

The WHO Guidance on Mental Health Policy and Strategic Action Plans is available here.