United Nations Radio

Today is World Mental Health Day, and to mark the day, the World Health Organization launched a programme to scale up care for people suffering from mental disorders.

In developing countries, WHO says, more than 75 per cent of those suffering from mental disorders do not receive treatment. Nancy Wallace who heads the NGO committee on mental health says treatment must include prevention of mental problems:

"Often when people think of the term "mental health", they think of people with chronic or severe mental illness. And we talk about that and it is a very serious issue. But we also want to talk about the economic and social conditions which create mental health problems for individuals."

WHO is calling on governments, donors and health stakeholders to rapidly increase funding in order to provide treatment and care for those who need it.

Diane Bailey, United Nations.

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