GLOBE FALLS SHORT ON MENTAL HEALTH GOALS IN ‘WORLDWIDE FAILURE’

A World Health Organization (WHO) report released Friday morning says that the globe is falling short on its mental health investment goals, calling the lack of progress a “worldwide failure.”

The WHO’s Mental Health Atlas, released Friday, concluded that while mental health has received more attention in the past few years, data from 171 countries show the quality of services has not kept up with growing needs.

“It is extremely concerning that, despite the evident and increasing need for mental health services, which has become even more acute during the COVID-19 pandemic, good intentions are not being met with investment,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

“We must heed and act on this wake-up call and dramatically accelerate the scale-up of investment in mental health, because there is no health without mental health,” he added.

Although WHO in 2019 extended its mental health action plan until 2030, countries didn’t reach several of the initial targets for last year.

The report, released every three years, found that 51 percent of WHO’s 194 members had a mental health policy or plan aligned with international regional human rights agreements last year, far below the 80 percent goal.