UN Chief Warns of COVID-19’s Mental Health Toll, Urges Global Action

Presenting the new report of the United Nations Organization on the pandemic and its consequences on mental health, Antonio Guterres indicated that "the covid-19 virus not only attacks our physical health; it also increases psychological suffering". The UN Secretary-General calls on governments not to neglect the impact of the covid-19 crisis on mental health. He calls for investment in this sector, which faces a chronic lack of funding around the world.

Guterres urges governments to fund mental health services, after decades of neglect. An essential element in the multidimensional response to the pandemic, he insists. States are also called upon, at the next World Health Assembly, to make proposals for concrete actions to address the mental health problems exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis.