10/10/2025
ARETE Global Health Initiative – Funmilayo ARETE Charity Healthcare Initiatives
World Mental Health Day 2025 — Statement by Omogoye Folakemi Abiodun Country Director
“Access to Services — Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies”
Today, on 10 October 2025, we mark World Mental Health Day — a day dedicated to raising awareness, reducing stigma, and mobilizing action to promote mental well-being globally.  This year’s theme, “Access to Services — Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies,” emphasizes the urgent need to protect and restore psychosocial support in contexts of crisis and upheaval. 
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1. The Global Challenge: Mental Health by the Numbers
• Over 1 billion people worldwide are estimated to live with a mental health condition. 
• Among these, depression (≈ 280 million persons) and anxiety disorders (≈ 301 million persons) are the most prevalent categories. 
• In 2019, about 970 million people globally were living with a mental or substance use disorder. 
• Mental disorders account for 1 in 6 years lived with disability (YLDs) globally. 
• People with serious mental health conditions frequently face reduced life expectancy, by 10 to 20 years, often due to co-morbidities, inadequate care, or stigma. 
• The global economy loses roughly USD 1 trillion annually due to depression and anxiety, and projections estimate that mental health conditions might impose an economic burden of up to USD 16 trillion between 2011 and 2030. 
• In many countries, mental health systems remain under-resourced: for example, only 31% of mental health plans are fully implemented; only 21% of policies both comply with rights frameworks and are fully implemented. 
• Encouragingly, over 80% of countries now include mental health and psychosocial support in their emergency response frameworks (up from 39% in 2020) — showing momentum toward integrating mental health into crisis response systems. 
These figures underscore both the scale of the mental health burden and the persistent gaps in systems and services.
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2. Why the 2025 Theme Matters
Crises — whether natural disasters, conflicts, pandemics, forced displacement, or climate shocks — have profound psychological impacts. Trauma, grief, fear, and uncertainty may amplify mental distress, especially in vulnerable populations (women, children, displaced persons, refugees).
In emergency settings, mental health services are often among the first to collapse — yet they are among the most essential. The 2025 theme calls attention to:
• Ensuring continuity of mental health care during emergencies
• Strengthening resilience and psychosocial support capacities
• Integrating mental health into humanitarian response plans
• Ensuring equitable access to services for the displaced, marginalized, and those in conflict zones
By doing so, we not only address acute suffering but also prevent long-term mental health sequelae.
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3. Context in Nigeria & West Africa
While global data is essential, regional and national realities often differ in severity and dynamics. Some relevant observations and challenges in Nigeria and the West African region include:
• Mental health systems in many sub-Saharan African countries suffer from low investment, limited human resources (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers), and uneven geographic coverage.
• Stigma and cultural misconceptions often deter persons from seeking care.
• In conflict-affected zones (e.g. border regions, areas beset by insurgency or community violence), psychosocial support is inadequately scaled.
• There is often minimal coordination between mental health services and humanitarian agencies in crisis response.
• Many people affected by displacement or crisis lack access to basic mental health services, especially in rural or underserved communities.
Given these challenges, our mission must include advocacy, capacity building, integration of mental health into primary care, and innovations such as task-sharing, community psychosocial interventions, telehealth, mobile outreach, and collaboration with civil society.
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4. ARETE’s Commitment & Call to Action
On this World Mental Health Day, ARETE Global Health Initiative / Funmilayo ARETE Charity Healthcare Initiatives makes the following commitments and calls:
1. Scale up integrated mental health services in our programs — embedding psychosocial screening, referral pathways, and counseling in our existing health outreach and community health work.
2. Train community health workers and volunteers to identify common mental health symptoms, provide psychological first aid, and make referrals.
3. Forge partnerships with NGOs, government agencies, mental health professionals, and humanitarian actors to strengthen mental health capacity in emergencies.
4. Advocate for increased resource allocation to mental health at local and national levels — particularly within emergency and disaster response budgets.
5. Raise awareness, reduce stigma, promote help-seeking — through public campaigns, community dialogues, grassroots engagement, and media collaboration.
6. Monitor and evaluate mental health interventions to generate local data, inform strategy, and demonstrate impact.
We urge all stakeholders — national and local governments, donor agencies, civil society, academic institutions, community leaders, and individuals — to join in:
• Prioritizing mental health in planning and funding
• Ensuring equitable and inclusive access to mental health services, even in crisis zones
• Building resilient systems that can absorb shocks and maintain services
• Amplifying the voices of persons with lived experience, centering them in design and implementation
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5. Closing Remarks
On this World Mental Health Day 2025, let us reaffirm: there is no health without mental health. 
As we respond to crises, disasters, and emergencies, let us ensure that mental health is not overlooked but is integrated, accessible, and responsive. Through solidarity, partnership, and commitment, we can reduce suffering, restore dignity, and foster healing.
Together, we can transform mental health from the margins into a central pillar of health and humanitarian action.
Omogoye Folakemi Abiodun, PhD
Country Director
ARETE Global Health Initiative / Funmilayo ARETE Charity Healthcare Initiatives
10 October 2025
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