On March 25, 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched new global guidance with a clear message: there is an urgent need to transform mental health systems worldwide.

Despite growing awareness, mental health services remain severely underfunded and outdated. In some countries, up to 90% of people with severe mental health conditions receive no care at all. Where services do exist, they are often based on outdated institutional models misaligned with human rights standards.

A Roadmap for Change
The new WHO document offers a concrete action plan that can be adapted to various national contexts — from low- to high-income countries — based on the latest evidence and international human rights standards.
According to Dr. Michelle Funk, Head of the Unit for Policy, Law and Human Rights at WHO: “This guidance provides practical strategies for countries to build more inclusive, resilient, and recovery-oriented mental health systems.”

Five Key Areas for Immediate Reform
The guidance outlines five priority areas requiring urgent attention:

• Leadership and governance
• Service organization
• Workforce development
• Person-centered interventions
• Social and structural determinants of mental health

Core Principles of Transformation
WHO emphasises five key pillars for meaningful change:

• Alignment with international human rights standards
• Promotion of holistic care, integrating physical, psychological, social, and economic dimensions
• Focus on social factors such as employment, housing, and education
• Promotion of population-wide mental health and prevention strategies
• Active participation of people with lived experience, ensuring that policies respond to real needs

Access the official documents:
New Guidance on Mental Health Policy and Strategic Action Plans (2025)
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240106796
WHO World Mental Health Report (2022)
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240049338

Building fair and compassionate mental health systems is both an ethical obligation and a collective social responsibility.
If you represent an organisation, leadership group or community that wants to align its practices with this vision, now is the time to act. Together, we can co-create healthier, more compassionate systems by starting with small, intentional changes in your environment.