WHO warns of worsening mental health in pandemic and calls for more investment

The WHO (World Health Organization) called this Friday (Thursday, 16, in Brazil) that all countries invest more in mental health, saying that “the suffering is enormous” and that it has increased with the coronavirus pandemic.

Even before Covid-19, almost 1 billion people were living with a mental disorder, the UN agency pointed out in a report on the situation of global mental health.

In the first year of the pandemic alone, rates of depression and anxiety soared by 25%, at a time when scarce health resources were focused on fighting the virus.

Only 2% of national health budgets and less than 1% of all international aid are devoted to mental health, the WHO report highlighted.

“All these numbers are very, very low,” Mark Van Ommeren, of the organization’s mental health division, told a news conference.

Van Ommeren noted that there has never been more interest in mental health, but investment has not increased.

He emphasized that, according to the report, all over the world “suffering is enormous”. One in eight people live with a mental illness, the document points out. A reality that is exacerbated in conflict zones, where the proportion is one in five.

Van Ommeren pointed out that people who already suffered from mental health problems were hit hardest by Covid and restrictions to contain the pandemic.

The “World Report on Mental Health” also highlights inequalities in access to care. In high-income countries, more than 70% of people with psychosis receive treatment, compared to 12% in low-income countries, the WHO official said.

The report also calls for an end to the stigma associated with mental disorders, pointing out that there are 20 countries in which attempted suicide is criminalized.

It also states that although one in 20 suicide attempts ends in death, it is still the cause of more than one in 100 deaths worldwide.