World Mental Health Day

The World Mental Health Day is observed annually on 10 October with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilising efforts in support of mental health. This day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide. It will also look at the inequalities suffered by those due to poverty, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and human rights violations.

Given past experience of emergencies, it is expected that the need for mental health and psychosocial support will substantially increase in the coming months and years. Every year one adult in four, along with one child in ten, will have a mental health issue. These conditions can profoundly affect literally millions of lives, affecting the capability of these individuals to make it through the day, to sustain relationships, and to maintain work.

Mental health problems are usually defined and classified to enable professionals to refer people for appropriate care and treatment. Nevertheless, diagnoses remain the most usual way of dividing and classifying symptoms into groups. Due to the health, economic, and social issues, millions of people are facing mental health issues, and many of them are experiencing even greater social isolation than before.

Hence, the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day is ‘Make mental health and well-being for all a global priority’, and it is an opportunity for people with mental health conditions, advocates, governments, employers, employees and other stakeholders to come together to recognise progress in this field and to be vocal about what we need to do to ensure mental health and well-being becomes a global priority for all.

We, at the World Assembly of Youth (WAY), will continue to raise awareness on mental health issues, as it is a human right, and shall highlight how access to mental health services remains unequal. Each of us can make a contribution to ensure that people dealing with problems concerning mental health can live better lives with dignity. We call upon young people to raise awareness of the scale of suicide around the world and the role that each of us can play to help prevent it.

All stakeholders, youth inclusive, should ensure that investment in mental health is prioritised. We also call to action in highlighting the need for greater investment in mental health particularly during this global health emergency and thereafter. Everyone should have access to quality mental health services, and mental health needs to be prioritised now more than ever!