01/27/21
Mental illness continues to be an under-priority on the global health agenda. Invented mental illness 10.5% the global disease in 2010 and is the Main cause of disability global. In the future, it will affect 25% of the population for their entire life. With such significant numbers, it is surprising that mental health is under-discussed and under-prioritized as a health problem at both national and international levels. Mental illness should be prioritized as an integral human rights concern and an issue of concern to national governments and global institutions such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization. COVID-19 only adds to the potential devastation caused by an often preventable and treatable form of disease that will soon – if not already – turn into a pandemic. There is a clear and urgent need to put mental health on the global agenda and equate it with physical health issues.
Mental Illness and Its Effects
Has mental illness negative impacts for both labor and financial account direct costs related to treatment, care, incarceration and indirect costs, including loss of ability to generate income through treatment, disability or death. In a report by Excellence in the Life Sciences (EMBO), the direct and indirect economic costs of mental illness add up to over $ 2 trillionThe indirect costs make up most of the burden. The cumulative loss of economic output due to mental illness is expected to increase and approaches comparability with other leading diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. Some estimates have shown that mental illness is a near-constituent part of global GDP 35%and shows how the economic impact of mental illness is a serious barrier to development and growth.
Mental illness should also be seen as a security issue by national governments and international institutions. According to one estimate, 74% Current US military personnel are in need of psychiatric treatment but have not received it due to stigma and career concerns. The lack of treatment endangers the service members both abroad and at home. Mental illness poses not only a direct threat to the troops, but also a threat to the realization of human security, which inevitably requires the recognition of human rights.
Mental health treatment: lack of respect for human rights
Persistent barriers to access to psychiatric treatment are higher than in any other sector, according to a study published by the EMBO. Those looking for treatment Face barriers related to costs, inconvenience, unavailability of treatment, stigma and a lack of trained mental health professionals. stigmaIncluding misconceptions about the validity of mental illness as a real illness and an issue of the responsibility or guilt of those who suffer, this creates a dangerous lack of political will to address this silent pandemic. These barriers disproportionately affect people in poverty, just as poverty is identified as a cause and consequence of poor mental health. Stigma is also more pronounced for those living in impoverished areas. Only on a global level 10% Those who suffer from depression in some of the world’s least developed countries have access to minimum adequate levels of treatment.
International human rights frameworks guarantee a right to health that implicitly includes mental health. Under Article 25 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) recognizes the right to a standard of living that is appropriate for one’s own health and well-being and that is clearly relevant to mental health. There is currently a lack of effort and resources to ensure that the Right to health is supported for people with mental illness. This is obvious when you consider that there is a lack of access to treatment and the right to control one’s health. The right to control one’s health is especially important when it comes to non-consensual treatment and incarceration.
The stigma is most pronounced in countries that address mental health problems in their legal systems. Suicide, for example, is illegal over and over again twenty five countries;; Not only does this create a more pronounced mental health stigma, but it also leads to underreporting of suicidal cases, which is a real barrier to realizing the breadth of the global mental health crisis. The harmful effects of social stigma can be seen in China, a country known for its lack of respect for human rights. Mental illness in China is viewed as a problem of social stability and a concern for law enforcement, the dehumanization of people struggling with disease and leading to human rights abuses, including imprisonment and inhuman treatment. Wan Yanhai, a medical doctor who works in the public health field and for a private NGO, said these were individuals sent to psychiatric clinics for same-sex relationships, domestic disputes, and political disagreements.
Effects of COVID-19 and the way forward
The world entered the new year and inherited the same sufferings of the last, seemingly ever-following, COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 leads to deterioration in mental health worldwide. Expanded bans have freed people with pre-existing mental illnesses from access to vital treatment, critical daily routines, regular coping mechanisms, and life-saving support systems. This has led to it higher rates of those with worsened symptoms, exacerbating a dangerous situation for national health systems that are already under significant strain in fighting the pandemic.
Mental health needs to be better addressed on a global scale. There is clearly a need for closer cooperation between countries in research into prevention, intervention and treatment. There is an urgent need for parity between mental and physical health. Both forms of health must be treated and financed equally within national and global health budgets and by global health institutions such as the WHO. Governments need to be as concerned about the growing mental health crisis as they are about economic problems.
There is a need for anti-stigma intervention using literature and psychoeducation shown Significantly improve understanding of mental illness in Canada and New Zealand. In many countries, however, there is often a lack of the capacity to initiate such interventions. An international framework must therefore deal with the proper allocation of resources to those in need, the recognition of mental health as a human right and the emphasis on pre-existing, binding human rights obligations under the UDHR. The countries’ observance of human rights must be seen in the context of their laws and guidelines with regard to people with mental illness. The promotion of human rights will inevitably contribute to the further development of mental health care and should be recognized and taken into account equally in human rights institutions and frameworks.
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