Multiplying and escalating crises are placing ever greater strains on people’s mental health and the services available to support them. From the lingering effects of COVID-19, the uptick in climate-related emergencies and the ongoing impacts of conflict and displacement in many regions, more and more people are suffering. Meanwhile, stigma and discrimination against people with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities continue in our schools, workplaces and communities.
With as many as one billion people – one in eight of us – living with a mental health condition, and a persistent history of under-investment in mental health services, the gap between the need for and availability of quality care and support can be expected to widen further. This will have predictable consequences for the health, happiness and wellbeing of millions of people.
It’s hard for the US to ratify it because special interests have made it nearly impossible to restructure our system so it’s modeled after healthcare being a right. ACA/medicaid expanded access, the intent is there, but “special interests” (ok republicans) have spent a decade declawing the law and have made it difficult to keep costs down by removing the insured mandate. As long as insurance is tied to employment, it will never be a right in the US.