Guidance on mental health policy and strategic action plans

Momentum is growing globally for rights-based, person-centered, and recovery-oriented mental health policies and action plans, ensuring equitable access to quality services within Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

This publication provides a clear framework for strengthening leadership, governance, service delivery, and workforce capacity. It highlights mental health’s connection to social and structural determinants—such as poverty, housing, education, and employment—offering actionable strategies to address these, combat stigma and discrimination, and expand access to care. It emphasizes the crucial role of people with lived experience in shaping inclusive, responsive systems and advocates for cross-sector collaboration to deliver holistic support, integrating lifestyle, and physical health, psychological, social, and economic interventions while promoting well-being and prevention.

Module 2. Key reform areas, directives, strategies, and actions for mental health policy and strategic action plans details five key policy areas for reform, starting each discussion with an overview of key challenges and providing a menu of policy directives, strategies for achieving them, and potential actions for implementation.

You can access the recording to the virtual launch here:
https://who.zoom.us/rec/play/D_lO5omvzCxc2nQZHyVgTJKgmP4Xp1miuY24MNy-l1YCuBBfzRfQstpG8f7tJObiTBYmJsOVt6d_b_cB.1ALG0sNOhkDNDd51.          Passcode: xm=1dZ@L