Majesty,
Your Royal Highness, Princess Mabel,
Minister Kaag,
Sir Mark Lowcock,
Commissioner Christos,
Ministers,
Dear colleagues and friends,
I’d like to start by telling you about a nine-year-old girl called Rayyan.
Rayyan lives in Aleppo, Syria.
One day in 2016, while a doctor was examining her sister for malnutrition, he noticed Rayyan, hiding behind her mother.
It turned out Rayyan was suffering from mental health problems. She had been suffering with sleep problems since a missile hit her neighbourhood. She had no interest in her friends and her drawings were full of sadness and images of war.
After receiving psychosocial support, Rayyan started sleeping better, playing with her friends again, and her drawings became full of roses, trees and butterflies.
Rayyan is just one person. Syria is just one country. They exemplify a much larger problem – a problem that has been ignored for too long.
And it is a problem that is growing in its scale and severity.
WHO estimates that one in five people living in an area affected by conflict is suffering from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. This is more than double the usual rates.
And conflict is only one cause of mental disorders.
Natural disasters, climate change, displacement and economic crises add to this burden.
It’s a burden that remains largely out of sight and off the radar. It’s a hidden epidemic.
News reports show us the devastation of war. They show us the destruction of a cyclone. But they don’t show us inside the minds of the people affected.
We don’t see the anxiety, depression and other mental health disorders caused by these crises.
Wounds heal. Homes are rebuilt. Outbreaks end. News cycles move on. But the psychosocial scars often go unnoticed and untreated for years.
Neglecting this problem undermines the recovery of individuals, communities and nations.
It’s also a betrayal of our commitment to universal health coverage. There is no health for all without mental health for all, including those affected by crises.
But in the midst of crisis, when health facilities are damaged and providing even the most basic health services is a challenge, is it really feasible to provide services for mental health?
Yes. In fact, it’s essential. And there are many stories to tell about how it has been done successfully.
Of course, WHO has been working on this for many years, and we’re also on the ground, supporting countries.
But one of the challenges we face is knowing which services to prioritize. We cannot do everything. Which services are the most needed and most effective?
Inspired by the success of the Minimum Initial Service Package for Reproductive Health, WHO is now developing a minimum service package for mental health. Our aim is to give funders and providers an evidence-based guide for the most effective and efficient interventions for mental health and psychosocial support in crisis situations.
I am therefore delighted that Minister Kaag and I will sign an agreement that will enable WHO and our partners to produce a Minimum Services Package for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support.
Together with our partner UNICEF, we will develop the package and evaluate it in 5 countries.
This is one part of WHO’s commitment to improving mental health globally.
As part of our transformation to make WHO more focused on impact and outcomes in countries, we launched a Special Initiative for Mental Health last year. It aims to expand quality and affordable care for mental health to 100 million more people in 12 countries, over 5 years. At least 4 of these 12 will be countries that have been affected by conflict or natural disaster.
Our commitment is to making sure that mental health is included in benefit packages as part of every country’s journey towards universal health coverage.
Minister Kaag, thank you once again for your leadership and the generous support from the government and people of the Netherlands.
Together we can make sure that there is no health without mental health.
Thank you so much. Hartelijk dank! Dank je well!