Lack of social interaction during the Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on people’s mental health which is already a neglected issue given that more than 75 per cent of those with mental, neurological and substance use disorders receive no treatment for their condition at all, the World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the WHO, said, “For many people, the lack of social interaction caused by the pandemic has had a profound effect on their mental health.”
Sharing his views at a virtual press briefing from Geneva, the WHO chief said that people in long-term facilities such as care homes and psychiatric institutions are at an increased risk of infection.
He added that mental health professionals have themselves been infected with the virus, and some mental health facilities have been closed to be converted into treatment facilities for people with Covid-19.
He recalled that mental health was already “a neglected health issue” globally before the pandemic, with close to one billion people living with a mental disorder. Yet relatively few people have access to quality mental health services.
“In low and middle-income countries, more than 75 per cent of people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders receive no treatment for their condition at all,” Tedros noted.
He declared that for this year’s World Mental Health Day, which falls on October 10, the WHO, together with its partner organizations, United for Global Mental Health and the World Federation for Mental Health, would call for a massive scale-up in investments in mental health.