World Leaders Agree Mental Health Care
Access Remains the Real Emergency
The United Nations
As world leaders consider integrating mental health and chronic disease care, clinicians warn that access to mental health treatments still lags and outline treatments that could bring accessible interventions into primary care clinics.
October 27, 2025. For the first time, the United Nations has formally placed mental health
on equal footing with chronic diseases like cardiovascular conditions and cancer.
The new declaration, negotiated over five months and overwhelmingly backed by heads of state and health ministers, will be presented for final approval at the UN General Assembly this October, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The document calls for a global shift in treating mental health not in specialized institutions but in everyday clinics, aiming to reach 150 million more people by 2030.
But while global leaders agree on the principle, clinicians say the main problem remains unchanged – it’s access. Out of more than a billion people living with mental health conditions today, less than7% are estimated to receive effective treatment, and waiting times for services often last for months.
A new study of over 275,000 Europeans, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, just showed that people with depressive symptoms have 57% more chronic conditions than others, and those with chronic diseases are 1.5 times more likely to have depression.
“When a patient walks into a GP’s office, their mental health should be managed with the same urgency as blood pressure or temperature,” said Dr Kultar Singh Garcha, MD and Global Medical Director at Flow Neuroscience. “The main problem isn’t awareness, it’s accessibility. Treatments exist, but too few are scalable or visible to frontline doctors.”
Long waits and overprescription remain widespread worldwide.
“Imagine waiting months for an appointment, and after ten minutes you leave with another prescription to add to your list,” said Dr Garcha. “Patients managing chronic disease already take multiple drugs, and we need options that don’t add to that burden. We also don’t need those extra side effects that often come with antidepressants.”
Both clinicians agree that it simply puts more burden on primary care providers without actually solving the problem. They urge faster adoption of novel technologies such as brain stimulation.
“Even before the UN declaration is formally adopted, its overwhelming support signals the end of the idea that mental health comes second,” concluded Dr Nearney. “The next step, which is already here, is building real access. Recovery in any chronic disease starts with a healthy brain.”
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From Reuters Health
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