WHO urges countries to include MH support in climate crisis response

Abstract

Climate change poses serious risks to mental health and well‐being, concludes a new policy brief from the World Health Organization (WHO), released June 3 at the Stockholm+50 conference. The WHO is urging countries to include mental health support in their response to the climate crisis, citing examples where a few pioneering countries have done so effectively. The findings are in line with a report published in February by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report revealed that rapidly increasing climate change poses an increasing threat to mental health and psychosocial well‐being, contributing to emotional distress, anxiety, depression, grief and suicidal behavior. The mental health impacts of climate change are unequally distributed among certain groups that are disproportionately affected depending on factors such as socioeconomic status, gender and age. However, it is clear that climate change affects many of the social determinants that are already leading to massive mental health burdens globally. A 2021 WHO survey of 95 countries found that only nine have thus far included mental health and psychosocial support in their national health and climate change plans.