WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health
Mental, neurological and substance use conditions account for a large and growing proportion of the world’s disease burden; as many as 1 in 8 people worldwide live with a mental health condition. Yet 85% of people with mental disorders receive no treatment at all.
WHO’s Special Initiative for Mental Health (SIMH) seeks to address this service and treatment gap, in ten countries across WHOs six Regions – Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Jordan, Nepal, Paraguay, Philippines, Ukraine and Zimbabwe. The SIMH works with these countries to transform mental health services, making them universally available in community settings, espcially at the primary and secondary health care levels.
As of the end of 2024, at least 72.3 million more people now have access to newly available services at the local level; achieved with modest financial investments of just US $0.40 per person.