HQ Team
March 26, 2025: The World Health Organization has issued new guidelines to help reform and strengthen mental health policies and systems at a time when up to 90% of the people in some nations with severe mental health conditions receive no care at all.
Many existing mental health services rely on outdated institutional models that fail to meet international human rights standards, according to a WHO statement.
The guidance was developed in consultation with global experts, policymakers and individuals with lived experience. The policy guidance also builds on the resources, guidance and tools developed under the WHO QualityRights initiative, aiming to promote a “person-centred, recovery-oriented and rights-based approach to mental health.”
The WHO will support countries in implementing the guidance through technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives. It will provide a framework to change mental health services with the latest evidence and international human rights standards, ensuring quality care is accessible to all.
‘Out of reach’
“Despite rising demand, quality mental health services remain out of reach for many people,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This new guidance gives all governments the tools to promote and protect mental health and build systems that serve everyone.”
While effective prevention and treatment interventions exist, most people living with mental health conditions do not have access. The new WHO guidance sets out concrete actions to help countries close these gaps and ensure mental health is promoted and protected.
The guidelines will focus on protecting and upholding human rights, ensuring mental health policies and services are aligned with international human rights standards and promoting holistic care “with an emphasis on lifestyle and physical health, psychological, social, and economic interventions.”
It aims to address social and economic factors that shape and affect mental health, including employment, housing, and education, implement prevention strategies and promote population-wide mental health and well-being.
Urgent reform areas
The new framework will ensure people with lived experience “are empowered to participate in policy planning and design to ensure mental health policies and services are responsive to their needs.”
It identifies five key policy areas requiring urgent reform — leadership and governance, service organisation, workforce development, person-centred interventions, and addressing social and structural determinants of mental health.
One in four people are afflicted by mental illness at some point in their lives, with women more likely than men to be diagnosed. More than two-thirds of people with mental health conditions don’t receive the care they need.
About 70% do not receive treatment for mental illness. The reasons include a lack of resources and trained health workers, but in many cases, the social stigma around mental health is the greatest barrier to care. In the US, only one in three people experiencing mental illness receive treatment, according to Project Hope.
The gap is widest in low- and middle-income countries, though, where more than 75% of people suffering from mental disorders lack access to care.
Suicides
People with mental health issues are more susceptible to facing other health challenges, including dangerous cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. People with depression have a 40% higher risk of developing these conditions, while people with serious mental illness are nearly twice as likely. Left untreated or at its worst, depression can lead to suicide, which claims more than 700,000 lives every year.
The WHO guidance is a critical tool for governments, policymakers, and stakeholders working to strengthen mental health systems and improve access to mental health care.
It offers a menu of policy directives, strategies and actions to guide reform efforts, and supports policymakers to tailor policies to their specific national context, in line with their available resources and operational structures.
“This new WHO guidance provides practical strategies for countries to build inclusive, responsive and resilient mental health systems. Designed to be flexible, it allows all countries – whether low- middle- or high-income – to adapt their approach to mental health care based on national context, needs, and priorities,” said Dr Michelle Funk, Unit Head, Policy, Law and Human Rights in the WHO Department for Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
