WASHINGTON, CMC – Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr Jarbas Barbosa, Friday urged hemispheric leaders including those in the Caribbean to ensure mental health is placed top of their political agendas and integrated into all sectors and policies.
He said this is necessary in order to address worsening mental health in the Americas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“The mental health of the population of the Americas has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its effects on our lives, economies and societies,” Dr Barbosa told reporters at the launch of the report.
Belizean-born, Dr Nestor Mendez, the co-Chair of the Commission and Assistant Director General of the Organization of American States (OAS), said “today, we don’t just launch a report; we launch a beacon of hope, a roadmap for change in how we view, treat, and prioritise mental health in the Americas.
“It is now in our hands to shift how we approach mental health, especially in a global crisis that has profoundly affected it,” he added.
PAHO said while mental health has historically represented a significant 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 the risk-factors for mental health issues, including unemployment, financial insecurity, and grief and loss.
Despite the high level of mental health issues in the region, the vast majority of those with a condition do not receive the care they need. In 2020, more than 80 per cent of people with a severe mental health condition, including psychosis, did not receive treatment.
The PAHO director highlighted that this lack of access to care is due to a variety of factors that pre-date the pandemic, including: low investment, only three per cent of countries’ health budgets are allocated to mental health; a reliance on long-stay hospitalisation when the majority of mental health problems can be resolved in the community; a chronic shortage of trained mental health personnel; and reduced access to services for those living in vulnerable situations
To address these issues, in May 2022 PAHO established the High-Level Commission on Mental Health and COVID-19.
The commission, which is made up of 17 experts from government, civil society, academia and those with lived experience of mental health conditions, was tasked with providing guidance to PAHO and its Member States on how to advance mental health in the region during and after the pandemic.
The commission’s report, A New Agenda for Mental Health in the Region of the Americas, provides countries with 10 recommendations to improve mental health care including the need to evaluate mental health at the national and supranational levels as well as integrate mental health into all policies and increase the quantity and improve the quality of financing for mental health.
It also recommended ensuring the human rights of people living with mental health conditions.
Promote and protect mental health across the life course, improve and expand community-based mental health services and care and strengthen suicide prevention.
The commission is also calling on countries to adopt a gender transformative approach to mental health and address racism and racial discrimination as a key determinant of mental health.
“Investing in mental health is crucial to promote equitable and sustainable human development for all to live with well-being and dignity,” said Dr Epsy Campbell Barr, chair of the commission, adding “we must remember that the mental health burden is not a private struggle but a public health crisis that warrants urgent and immediate action”.
Nearly one-third of all years lived with disability (YLDs) and one-fifth of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) 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 per cent of all deaths in the Americas. The Americas has the second highest level of alcohol consumption in the world.
Suicide claims the lives of nearly 100,000 people each year.
