The WHO Executive Board 154 concluded last week with some positive highlights for suicide prevention and mental health globally, setting a promising agenda for change in 2024. IASP is heartened to hear Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s hope to increase countries’ investment on mental health and his commitment to focus global attention towards mental health, particularly addressing increased suicide rates. “I don’t think anyone is surprised at the increase in mental health problems…. I hope countries will give attention to this and increase their investment and mainstream it in almost everything that we do and save lives”, Dr Tedros said.
As demonstrated by the data published last September by the WHO and World Bank, around half of the world’s population still lacks access to basic health services. While commendable progress has been made in strengthening health care systems in several countries with WHO’s support, more needs to be done to meet global targets such as Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The global commitment to achieving UHC2030 and SDG target 3.4 of reducing by one third the premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and the promotion of mental health and well-being can only be met fully by investing in quality mental health and suicide prevention services and ensuring their accessibility through primary care. As it was highlighted in this Director-General report, around one billion people in the world live with a mental disorder and one out of 100 deaths is caused by suicide. Therefore, it is important for WHO Member States to prioritise mental health and increase investment to reduce the global burden of mental disorders and suicide.
Strong political commitment and national responses are crucial to accelerate progress towards SDG target 3.4 and ensure that no one is left behind. We commend the continued commitment from Member states and civil society engaging in this Executive Board Meeting. As we continue these discussions throughout 2024, we look towards opportunities within the World Health Assembly in May as well as high level meetings taking place around NCDs and mental health financing and NCDs and mental health implementation in Small Islands States. We hope to ensure that suicide prevention remains a top priority in these meetings and global commitment and investment in mental health is higher than ever.
