The report highlights that while mental health conditions have historically been a major source of disability and mortality in the region, this has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Washington DC, June 9, 2023 (PAHO) – Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, today urged leaders and decision-makers to ensure that mental health be placed at the top of political agendas and mainstreamed across sectors and policies to address worsening mental health in the Americas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic has highlighted the central role of mental health in our well-being,” Dr Barbosa said at a media briefing today to launch the report, with COVID-19 and its effects affecting ” our lives, economies and societies.”
While mental health has historically been a major source of disability and mortality in the Americas, accounting for nearly one-third of all years lived with a disability, the COVID-19 pandemic further increased risk factors for mental health problems. mental health, including unemployment, financial insecurity, grief and loss.
Despite the high level of mental health problems in the Region, the vast majority of people with an illness do not receive the care they need. In 2020, more than 80% of people with a serious mental illness, including psychosis, did not receive treatment.
The PAHO director emphasized that this lack of access to care is due to a variety of pre-pandemic factors, including: low investment, only 3% of countries’ health budgets go to mental health; a reliance on long-term hospitalization when most mental health problems can be resolved in the community; a chronic shortage of trained mental health personnel; and reduced access to services for people living in vulnerable situations
To address these issues, PAHO established the High-Level Commission on Mental Health and COVID-19 in May 2022. The Commission, which is made up of 17 experts from government, civil society, academia and those with lived experience in mental health conditions, was tasked with providing guidance to PAHO and its member states on how to move forward in mental health in the Region during and after. the pandemic
The report of the Commission, A New Agenda for Mental Health in the Americas Regionoffers countries ten recommendations to improve mental health care:
Raise mental health at national and supranational level. Integrate mental health into all policies. Increase the amount and improve the quality of funding for mental health. Guarantee the human rights of people living with mental health problems. Promote and protect mental health throughout life. Improve and expand community-based mental health care and services. Strengthen suicide prevention. Adopting a gender-transformative approach to mental health. Addressing racism and racial discrimination as key determinants of mental health. Improving mental health data and research.
“Investing in mental health is crucial to promoting equitable and sustainable human development so that everyone can live with well-being and dignity,” said Dr. Epsy Campbell Barr, Chair of the Commission and former Vice-President of Costa Rica. “We must remember that the burden of mental health is not a private struggle but a public health crisis that requires urgent and immediate action.
“Today we do not limit ourselves to launching a report; we launch a beacon of hope, a roadmap for change in how we view, treat, and prioritize mental health in the Americas. It is now in our hands to change the way we approach mental health, especially in a global crisis that has deeply affected it”, added Dr. Nestor Mendez, Co-Chair of the Commission and Deputy Director General of the Organization of American States (OAS). ).
Mental Health in the Americas
Nearly one-third of all years of life with disability (YLD) and one-fifth of all disability-adjusted life years (DALY) are due to mental, neurological, and substance use conditions and suicide. Depressive and anxiety disorders are the third and fourth leading causes of disability. Alcohol is responsible for 5.5% of all deaths in the Americas. America has the second highest level of alcohol consumption in the world. Suicide claims the lives of nearly 100,000 people each year. The regional age-adjusted suicide rate increased by 17% between 2000 and 2019. 8 out of 10 people with a serious mental illness do not receive treatment. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, major depressive disorders increased by 35% and anxiety disorders by 32%. 65% of countries reported disruptions to essential mental health and substance use services in 2020. This figure has fallen to 14% by early 2023.
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