Financing Mental Health
The challenge
We are committed to a world where increased levels of finance are in place to fully support effective mental health systems. At present, countries spend less than 2% of their national health budgets on mental health, and international global mental health funding is a tiny fraction of development assistance for health and other sectors.
Our approach
Our vision is a world where
- Every government spends a minimum of 5% (for low and middle-income countries) or 10% (for high-income countries) of their health budget on mental health;
- Global donor financing to low- and middle-income countries increases to US$1.9bn per year
- Mental health finance is spent on quality services and prevention that uphold human rights.
To realise this we need:
- Governments to prioritise mental health and increase the funding of mental health systems, with a focus on primary and community-level services;
- Global financing mechanisms that integrate mental health into their investments;
- Philanthropic spending that catalyses more and better improved mental health financing;
- Global institutions, such as UN agencies, to use their influence towards generate political action and funding;
- Donor governments to integrate mental health into their aid strategies and to use their influence with other governments to increase domestic spending on mental health.