The Mental Health Coalition: a WHO/Europe flagship initiative (2020)

What is the flagship?

WHO/Europe launched the new Mental Health Coalition to position and promote mental health as a critical priority for public health across the Member States of the WHO European Region over the next 5 years. The Coalition is focused on:

• transforming attitudes about mental health;
• expediting mental health service reforms; and
• accelerating progress towards universal health coverage for people with mental health conditions.

Why does mental health matter?

A fundamental element of any individual’s health and well-being, including their capacity to live a fulfilling life, is the enjoyment of good mental health. Indeed, there can be no health without mental health. Yet mental well-being is far from assured, and is put at risk by exposure to a wide range of determinants that affect individuals, families and communities.

These include gender inequalities, social deprivation and poverty, unemployment, migration, conflict and – as so vividly demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic – disease outbreaks and their associated countermeasures.