On 25 September 2025 in New York, mental health took centre stage at the United Nations this week, as Heads of State and Ministers gathered for the Fourth High-Level Meeting (HLM4) on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-being, held during the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly.
For the first time, mental health was treated as a full and equal pillar of global health policy, not an afterthought. World leaders endorsed a political declaration that commits to ensuring 150 million more people worldwide gain access to mental health care by 2030, while strengthening suicide prevention, stigma reduction, and the integration of psychological support into all levels of care.
A Decisive Moment for Global Mental Health
The meeting, described by WHO as a “decennial opportunity” to renew global action, arrives at the halfway point to 2030, a moment when progress on Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 (reducing premature mortality from NCDs and promoting mental health and well-being) is off track.
According to WHO, this calls for an urgent “whole-of-government, whole-of-society” response: tackling the social, economic, commercial, and environmental factors that drive both NCDs and mental ill-health, and addressing the chronic underinvestment that leaves millions without access to timely, affordable, community-based care.
The WHO event page highlights that the world must act collectively to reshape health systems, mobilise sustainable financing, and reduce inequalities, ensuring that mental health becomes an integral, funded, and accountable part of the global health agenda.
About the Political Declaration
The adopted text, titled: “Equity and Integration: Transforming Lives and Livelihoods through Leadership and Action on Noncommunicable Diseases and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-being”, is the first UN declaration to place mental health on an equal footing with physical health. (WHO publication: Rev. 4 Political Declaration)
Key mental-health-related commitments include:
Ensuring 150 million more people have access to quality, affordable mental health services by 2030.
Integrating mental health and psychosocial support into primary care and emergency response systems.
Scaling up suicide prevention, particularly among young people.
Strengthening laws and policies to eliminate stigma and discrimination.
Addressing digital, social, and environmental determinants that harm mental well-being.
Investing in the mental health workforce, data collection, and research.
Recognising neurological conditions, such as dementia, within the NCD framework.
Establishing monitoring and accountability mechanisms to track national progress.
While the declaration gained wide support, consensus adoption was blocked by a few countries during the meeting. It will therefore move to a vote in the General Assembly later this year, which will determine whether the commitments become formal UN policy.
From Global Words to European Action
While the declaration represents progress, its promise will only be realised through implementation. For Europe, this means:
A comprehensive EU Mental Health Strategy aligned with the UN declaration and adequately funded under EU4Health.
Stronger integration of mental health within primary care and NCD prevention frameworks.
Cross-sector policies addressing the social and digital determinants of mental well-being.
Sustained involvement of people with lived experience in designing, monitoring, and evaluating mental health policies.
GAMIAN-Europe’s Commitment
Civil society played a key role throughout the process. Organisations including the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN) and United for Global Mental Health, led advocacy at the UN, ensuring that lived experience and community-based approaches were reflected in the declaration.
GAMIAN-Europe joined this global momentum, echoing the same message we continue to deliver within Europe:
Mental health must achieve parity with physical health in all policies.
Systems must move from awareness to access, ensuring community-based, rights-based, and recovery-oriented support.
Commitments must be backed by ring-fenced financing and transparent monitoring.
GAMIAN-Europe welcomes the renewed political attention to mental health and stands ready to work with European and international partners to make these commitments real. WHO’s call for whole-of-society action aligns with GAMIAN’s long-standing advocacy to ensure that the voices of people with lived experience are central, not peripheral, in policy design and evaluation. Through our ongoing projects and advocacy campaigns, we will continue to hold policymakers accountable and ensure that patient voices remain central to policy discussions.
As WHO warns, the world is halfway to 2030 and still falling short. Europe has both the means and the responsibility to lead by example, turning this global promise into tangible progress for everyone living with mental health conditions.
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