Sustainable development goals and mental health

Abstract

In 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set the course for a more equitable distribution of resources globally. For the first time in history, this collective global commitment explicitly included mental health-related objectives, and manifested them as targets in the health SDG 3. This represents a unique opportunity to increase coverage and quality of services, especially in low- and middle-income countries, in which the current treatment gap surpasses  80% even for the most severe disorders. Importantly, although not explicitly highlighted in the SDGs, mental health is implicitly cross-linked to multiple of the other goals and targets, which stresses the importance of investing in improving population-level mental health as a pre-condition to: ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture (SDG 2); ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting life-long learning opportunities for all (SDG 4); promoting  sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth (SDG 8); reducing inequality within and among countries (SDG 10); making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG 11); promoting peaceful and inclusive societies (SDG 16); and, obviously, ensuring healthy lives and promoting welleing for all at all ages (SDG 3). In this article, we revise the reasons why investing in, and improving, mental health systems and services, constitutes a fundamental step towards achieving the overall SDGs, and we highlight the role that civil society, NGOs, and academic organizations need to play to ensure that these commitments are fulfilled.