Global Neglect Of Child Mental Health Puts Future Generations At Risk, UN Agencies Warn

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UNESCO, UNICEF – A coalition of United Nations agencies has issued a joint call urging governments and partners to urgently strengthen policies and investment for child and youth mental health and well-being worldwide.

The statement, released on Thursday by UNESCO, UNICEF, the UN Youth Office and the World Health Organization, stressed that mental health is a fundamental human right requiring decisive, coordinated global action.

The agencies warned that despite growing recognition of mental health across international frameworks, children and young people remain inadequately prioritized within global development, health and human rights agendas.

According to the joint statement, no dedicated United Nations resolution currently centers the mental health and well-being of children and youth as a distinct global priority requiring sustained political commitment.

UNESCO, UNICEF, UNYO and WHO noted that existing global frameworks often reference mental health broadly but fail to address the unique developmental needs of children and adolescents.

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This policy gap, the agencies said, has contributed to fragmented approaches, chronic underinvestment, and limited access to prevention, early intervention and treatment services for young people worldwide.

Globally, it is estimated that one in seven adolescents aged 10 to 19 lives with a mental health condition, according to WHO and UNICEF data cited in the statement.

Despite the scale of the challenge, most of these conditions remain unrecognized, untreated or poorly managed, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, the agencies said.

The statement also highlighted worrying increases in suicide rates across many countries among young people aged 10 to 24, describing the trend as a growing public health concern.

WHO’s recently released Mental Health Atlas revealed that only 56 percent of countries have a distinct or integrated child and youth mental health policy or plan.

Fewer than half of responding countries, the atlas showed, provide community-based, school-based or other structured mental health services for children and adolescents.

“These figures underscore a systemic failure to translate global awareness into national action for children and youth,” the agencies jointly stated.

They emphasized that the absence of dedicated global commitments has perpetuated siloed interventions, weak accountability mechanisms and insufficient financing for child and adolescent mental health.

The agencies argued that addressing the crisis requires coordinated, cross-sectoral action cutting across education, health, social protection, climate, digital and cultural systems.

They stressed that effective responses must be grounded in rights-based, inclusive frameworks that leave no one behind, including children in humanitarian and fragile contexts.

According to the statement, children and young people are often excluded from shaping the policies and services intended to support their mental health and well-being.

Truth live news reports that the agencies identified four major policy gaps undermining progress on child and youth mental health at global and national levels.

First, they pointed to the absence of dedicated United Nations resolutions specifically addressing child and youth mental health and psychosocial well-being.

Second, the statement highlighted the lack of age-specific commitments within global development, health and human rights frameworks.

Third, the agencies cited missing participatory mechanisms that would ensure meaningful involvement of children and young people in mental health decision-making.

Fourth, they noted limited oversight and accountability systems to track existing global policy and financing commitments related to child and youth mental health.

They called for child and youth mental health to be elevated and resourced as a standalone global policy and investment priority.

The agencies urged governments to explicitly integrate child and youth mental health into future UN resolutions, human rights frameworks and global monitoring mechanisms aligned with the 2030 Agenda.

They also proposed the creation of a unified inter-agency and multi-stakeholder platform to strengthen global coherence and coordination.

Such a platform, they said, should bring together UN agencies, Member States, youth networks and civil society to align technical guidance, financing and accountability mechanisms.

Encouraging national action, the agencies called on Member States to adopt and implement comprehensive child and adolescent mental health strategies and policies.

They recommended alignment with the WHO Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan and the UNICEF-WHO Joint Programme on Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-being.

The statement emphasized that national strategies should incorporate human rights and disability inclusion guidance from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

It also referenced the 2023 UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development, which promotes safe and inclusive learning environments.

According to the agencies, schools play a critical role in supporting mental well-being and should be central to prevention and early intervention strategies.

The joint call further stressed the importance of meaningful child and youth participation in mental health policy design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

“Young people must be positioned as equal partners, not passive beneficiaries, in shaping the systems that affect their lives,” the agencies said.

They encouraged governments to build on existing UN youth engagement frameworks to institutionalize participation and accountability.

Investment priorities, the statement added, should focus on prevention, promotion and protection through a whole-of-society approach.

Meeting young people “where they are,” the agencies said, is essential to nurturing supportive environments that allow children and adolescents to thrive.

The statement also called for the integration of core mental health indicators into broader child and youth health, education and development monitoring systems.

Such integration, including through household surveys and national information systems, would strengthen accountability, equity and cross-sectoral visibility of progress.

Reacting to the joint call, global health advocates described it as a timely intervention amid rising mental health challenges among young people worldwide.

A senior WHO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the statement reflects “a growing consensus that mental health investment is not optional but foundational.”

UNICEF officials similarly emphasized that early investment in child and adolescent mental health yields long-term social and economic benefits for societies.

They warned that failure to act risks entrenching cycles of disadvantage, poor educational outcomes and lost productivity across generations.

The agencies reiterated that mental health is inseparable from broader development goals, including poverty reduction, quality education and social inclusion.

They urged governments, donors and partners to translate commitments into sustained financing, policy reform and measurable action.

The joint statement concluded that strengthening child and youth mental health systems is essential to building resilient, inclusive and peaceful societies.

Media inquiries regarding the statement were directed to the WHO Media Team, World Health Organization.