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Historic First as mental health is integrated into Global Declaration on Universal Health Coverage
Dear supporter of United for Global Mental Health,
The UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (HLM UHC) will take place during the UN General Assembly on Monday 23 September at the UN Building in New York City alongside the UN General Assembly. Following the acknowledgment last year that the world was off track to meet the sustainable development goal of universal health coverage a HLM UHC is being convened for governments and other stakeholders to discuss this issue and commit to getting the world back on track.
Mental health has typically been left out of UHC discussions and national planning, and so significant advocacy efforts have been undertaken by the global mental health community, including United for Global Mental Health, to ensure that mental health is included in the discussions and commitments made. One success has been the inclusion of strong mental health language in the political declaration which has been agreed by all member states and can be viewed here: https://www.un.org/pga/73/wp-content/uploads/sites/53/2019/09/UHC-HLM-silence-procedure.pdf
As well as reaffirming the right to good physical AND mental health the declaration makes specific commitments to improving mental health system, in particular through the agreeing to the declaration governments are committing to:
Implement measures to promote and improve mental health and well-being by developing comprehensive and human rights-based services for the prevention, including suicide prevention, as well as treatment for people living with mental health conditions and neurological or neurodevelopmental disorders, as an essential part of integrated health-care delivery;
United for Global Mental Health will now work with peers across the global mental health community to ensure that governments now commit to action on three specific areas of mental health: human rights, access and financing.
Follow our social media platforms throughout the week commencing 23rd September to here about progress of mental health at the UN General Assembly.