Mental health to remain focus of UN's high-level meeting

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) World leaders are expected to deliberate on mental health care at a high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

The Fourth UN High-level Meeting on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) marks a unique, decennial opportunity to adopt a new, ambitious, and achievable political declaration on NCDs and mental health conditions towards 2030 and beyond.

“This is the first time that we can report more than one billion people have a mental health condition,” Dr. Devora Kestel, Director ad interim of NCDs and Mental Health/NMH at the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Only nine per cent of people with depression, the most common mental health condition, receive support. Only 40 per cent of people with psychosis receive help. This means that countries need to come up with more and better ways to develop services to make sure that care is available and easy to access,” Kestel added.

Even where services do exist, mental health is often inaccessible due to costs, distance, or lack of integration with other health support.

Stigma is also a significant factor dissuading those living with mental health issues from seeking help.

In addition to mental health, the event will also emphasise the prevention and control of other NCDs, which remain the leading causes of death and disability worldwide.

For many people with NCDs like cardiovascular illnesses, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases, physical and mental conditions overlap.

“Member States have decided to emphasise some issues that are common to all non-communicable diseases, but some that are very specific to mental health, like child and youth mental health, suicide prevention, and efforts to develop services at the community level,” Dr. Kestel noted.

The UN high-level meeting represents an opportunity to put mental health and NCDs firmly on the global agenda.

--IANS

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