World Mental Health Day 2023 returns on Tuesday 10 October, 2023 to improve knowledge, raise awareness and drive actions that promote and protect everyone’s mental health as a universal human right.
This year, people and communities unite behind the theme ‘Mental health is a universal human right”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognises Mental health as a basic human right for all people.
- a right to the highest attainable standard of mental health.
- the right to be protected from mental health risks,
- the right to available, accessible, acceptable, and good quality care, and
- the right to liberty, independence and inclusion in the community.
One in eight people globally live with mental health conditions, affecting their physical health, their well-being, how they connect with others, and their livelihoods. Mental health concerns affect an increasing number of adolescents and young people.
Human rights violations include exclusion from decisions about their own health care, or from care itself. Some people are subjected to ‘care’ that itself violates their human rights.
The WHO campaigns to promote and protect human rights and quality mental health care they need.