World Mental Health Day 2020

The anniversary of October 10, World Mental Health Day, falls in a period in which our daily lives have been significantly changed by the pandemic.

The last few months have brought great pressure:

• healthcare workers who provide care in difficult circumstances and who go to work fearful of becoming infected and bringing COVID-19 home;
• students, called for a long time to adapt to distance learning, with little contact with teachers and classmates, and worried about their future;
• workers who see their livelihoods threatened and those who have lost a job;
• those who have lost a loved one and were not even able to say goodbye;
• the vast number of people trapped in poverty or fragile humanitarian contexts;
• people with mental distress, many of whom have experienced greater social isolation than in the past.

And with the rise in infections, uncertainty about the future risks weakening the emotional recovery after the easing of social distancing measures.

Experience from other humanitarian emergencies tells us that the need for psychosocial support will increase substantially in the coming months and years. Investment nationally and internationally in mental health programs (which have already suffered from years of chronic underfunding) is now more important than ever.

That's why the goal of the campaign for World Mental Health Day 2020 is to increase investment in mental health.

In fact, it is one of the most neglected areas of public health. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 1 billion people live with a mental disorder, 3 million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol, and one person dies every 40 seconds from suicide. In low- and middle-income countries, more than 75% people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders receive no treatment, while stigma and discrimination are still widespread. All this, before the pandemic.

WHO highlights how countries spend on average only 2% of their health budgets on mental health. In Italy, for example, the figure is equal to 3.2 %, lower than the European average which is just above 4%. To understand the importance of greater investments in this area, the World Health Organization recalls that for every dollar invested in large-scale treatment for common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, there is a return of 5 dollars in improved health and productivity.

"World Mental Health Day is an opportunity for the world to come together and begin to remedy the historic neglect of mental health – said the WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, presenting the initiative – If we do not make commitments serious efforts to increase investment now, the clinical, social and economic consequences will be far-reaching."