World Mental Health Day 2020: What does WHO say about mental health?

World Mental Health Day is marked on the 10th of October every year. On this day, experts hold activities and events to raise awareness of mental health issues happening around the world.

According to the World Health Organization, the day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide.

This year, the day comes at a time when the world struggles to fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Around a year has passed, but coronavirus has strengthened its roots. Several countries are now even experiencing the second wave of the outbreak.

According to a news release by WHO, it is expected that the need for mental health and psychosocial support will substantially increase in the coming months and years. Investment in mental health programs at the national and international levels, which have already suffered from years of chronic underfunding, is now more important than it has ever been.

This is why the goal of this year’s World Mental Health Day campaign is increased investment in mental health.

It is because the past few months have brought many challenges or health-care workers, providing care in difficult circumstances, going to work fearful of bringing COVID-19 home with them; for students, adapting to taking classes from home, with little contact with teachers and friends, and anxious about their futures; for workers whose livelihoods are threatened; for the vast number of people caught in poverty or in fragile humanitarian settings with extremely limited protection from COVID-19; and for people with mental health conditions, many experiencing even greater social isolation than before.

Consequently, people are already facing the economic consequences of the pandemic because several companies terminated a great number of employees to bear expenses.