Mental health in the world: "the suffering is enormous", warns the WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday June 17 called on all nations to invest more in mental health, saying

and has been made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To discover

• Find all the results of the legislative elections

Read alsoChildren's mental health problems are worsening

Even before Covid-19, nearly a billion people were living with a mental disorder, the UN agency pointed out in its largest global mental health study in two decades.

During the first year of the pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety rose by a quarter.

But the investment has not increased.

Only 2% of national health budgets and less than 1% of all international health aid is spent on mental health, according to the WHO report.

Mark Van Ommeren, from the WHO's mental health unit, told a news conference.

This report underlines how

across the world, he added.

According to the report, around one in eight people worldwide live with a mental disorder.

It's worse for those living in conflict zones, where it's estimated that one in five people suffer from a mental health problem.

Young people, women and people already suffering from mental health problems have been hit hardest by Covid and the resulting restrictions, said Mark Van Ommeren.

Read also“Anxiety disorders are progressing in children under 15”

The “World Mental Health Report” also highlighted wide gaps between countries in access to mental health care: while more than 70% of people with psychoses receive treatment in high-income countries, that rate drops to 12% in low-income countries, he said.

The report calls for an end to mental health stigma, pointing out that 20 countries still criminalize attempted suicide.

He recalls that while one suicide attempt in 20 results in death, suicide still represents more than one death in 100 worldwide.

," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.