The 2025 UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health: the end that is the beginning

The UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and mental health has been a momentous event on a key global health challenge. Today, almost a billion people in the world are living with a mental health condition. Far too many of these individuals face stigma, discrimination and violation of their human rights. The majority are also unable to access essential support for care, and recovery. And efforts to create environments that enable good mental health and foster prevention are severely lacking. 

The High-Level Meeting on September 25th marked a critical moment to secure meaningful and lasting progress for mental health worldwide. This has been the first time Heads of State convened and had the opportunity to discuss and make meaningful global commitments on mental health. 

And there is a lot to celebrate on the back of the HLM. The Political Declaration includes commitments to improving mental health care across the world in a number of important areas that have been, from the start, set as critical priorities by the coordinated global mental health advocacy community.

But whilst on the one hand the HLM feels like the end of a long advocacy journey, it is at the same time the start of an even more important one.

Mobilising A Global Community

At United for Global Mental Health (UnitedGMH), working with the convening power of the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN), we set – from the start – as core to our objectives achieving greater civil society, lived experience, and youth involvement and social participation in discussions, processes and structures that will influence the process and outcomes of the HLM. It has been a momentous year that saw, among other highlights, the strongest and broadest representation ever from advocates with lived experience of mental health conditions at a UN Multi-Stakeholder Hearing for an HLM.

The HLM has not only been a historic opportunity, but it has also provided a window for the mobilisation of a global community of advocates who have played a much smaller role in previous HLMs on NCDs. The mental health community, as we experience it around the world, understands that advocacy is key to catalysing action. It is critical that health advocates and people with lived experience both make their voices heard at an international level and maintain their efforts at the domestic level. 

International influencing over the past 18 months has been critical in ensuring that Member States make direct interventions towards a strong Political Declaration. Now, domestic influencing takes the front seat, in order to drive the implementation of concrete spending and policy commitments that actually benefit people and communities. This is especially important since implementation of key policies from the previous HLMs on NCDs is still lagging behind. 

The Journey to Implementation

Effective public mental health interventions exist to treat mental health conditions, prevent illness and associated impacts, and promote mental wellbeing and resilience. However, globally only a minority of people living with mental health conditions receive treatment, with a far smaller proportion having access to effective prevention. This implementation failure breaches the right to health and results in population scale preventable suffering, broad impacts and associated economic costs.

Hence, a second long journey now starts for the global mental health advocacy community. The post-HLM approach is about continuing the pressure and advocacy for the implementation and achievement of the objectives and priorities set out in the Political Declaration.

Our priorities – as reflected in the Declaration – have included:

• Strengthening mental health systems through moving away from institutions to integrated primary and community-based care.
• Young people’s mental health.
• Preventing suicide.
• Addressing the social and commercial determinants of mental health.
• Financing mental health systems.

In the weeks, months and years to come, UnitedGMH and GMHAN will be working with other civil society organisations and experts by experience, global institutions, multilateral organisations, donors, and governments to ensure the implementation of commitments made and monitor progress.

Some of our activities will include: (i) Disseminating and amplifying the content of the HLM political declaration that is most directly relevant to mental health. (ii) Pushing for implementation of the mental health commitments made by member states at the HLM. (iii) Championing the ongoing funding commitments to mental health made by multilateral, bilateral and other donors around the HLM. (iv) Supporting a clear and progressive direction for global mental health leading up to and beyond 2030.

Beyond the HLM, as international organisations and national governments often move on to other priorities, the global mental health advocacy community will remain equally strong and passionate about this agenda. We will look to facilitate leadership that makes sure that the momentum and the ground gained in 2025 is not lost, and that advocates are supported and have the tools they need to hold national governments and global organisations to account for their commitments and encourage further action.

Further Links

• Register for our GMHAN webinar on November 4th – it will include presentations on what mental health commitments were included in the HLM Political Declaration and discuss the future.
• Physical and Mental Health – The journey to integration: We are co-leading a special issue for the Journal of Public Mental Health on integrating physical and mental health. Read how we are approaching it.