UNGA 2024: Mental Health Front ‘and’ Centre

UNGA was, as always, exhausting. So, I am going to keep this brief. 

I have three main observations from a successful time for mental health at the High-Level Week at the UN General Assembly (UNGA):

• I’ve previously expressed my frustration with “…and mental health” often being tacked on as an afterthought in a long list of health sector issues in political documents and discussions. But during this week’s events, “and mental health” was used a lot, and I was delighted. The UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs (HLM NCDs) is next year and will be a huge moment for global mental health advocacy. I thought the title of the HLM was fixed but this week I learnt that it is not, and it will be agreed in the modalities resolution (a procedural document for the HLM which sets out process and themes) due in Dec/Jan. This week it felt like in every event that  global agencies, governments, multinational corporations and NGOs were referring to the HLM as the “HLM on NCDs and Mental Health.” I know this might sound like semantics but believe me, titles matter. It will change the whole tone of the meeting, and the outcomes, to be much more progressive for mental health. We are now working to formally convert this spoken recognition into dried ink of the modalities resolution.
• Data, data, data. There is simply not enough. The world’s best researchers are struggling with mental health as the data is patchy at best. Without much improved, timely, comprehensive and accurate data we cannot understand the challenges we face, refine our solutions, or hold those with power accountable. While efforts  to address the gap are emerging,  I see this as a key area of discussion over the next 12 months as we build up to the HLM on NCDs and Mental Health. My teammates at UnitedGMH have written an excellent piece  about the importance of data here.  
• Youth mental health – what do I know? I am “middle-aged” according to my nearest and dearest. Well, I have been told two things: 1. Acknowledge that young people are the experts of their own lives; 2. Give youth mental health advocates even the smallest amount of the stage and they will light it up. We try to work by these principles and this year we supported Oriana Ortiz Parrao and Judah Njoroge to be in New York to speak  truth to power. Oriana and Judah put youth mental health on the agenda,with the mental health of children and adolescents in nearly every conversation I heard. We also supported the Being Initiative in mapping youth voices across the SDGs in a new report: The Role of Youth Mental Health in Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals which launched on Tuesday. 

Since I joined UnitedGMH in 2019, it has felt like mental health has grown more attention at the UN General Assembly with each passing year. This year it wasn’t that it felt like there was just more mental health discussion than last year, it felt like mental health was one of ‘THE’ health discussions. Maybe we are close to the tipping point. 

But enough from me. I can’t do better than Oriana so she can have the last word – click here.