Mental health has intrinsic and instrumental value and is a fundamental human right. The organization notes that mental health conditions encompass mental disorders and psychosocial disabilities, as well as other mental states associated with a high degree of distress, functional impairment, or risk of self-harm.
To accelerate the adoption of measures, the "World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All" urges countries to focus on three pathways for transformation:
- Deepen the value that individuals, communities, and governments place on mental health, backed by meaningful participation and intersectoral investment.
- Reconfigure environments – in homes, schools, workplaces, and communities – to better protect mental health and prevent related conditions.
- Strengthen mental health care by establishing accessible, affordable, and quality community-based service networks and supports that address the full spectrum of needs.
Many mental health conditions can be effectively treated at a relatively low cost, although health systems continue to face significant resource limitations, and major treatment gaps persist worldwide.
Meanwhile, it is stated that all WHO Member States have committed to implementing the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030, whose goal is to improve mental health through four main strategies focused on leadership, community-based care, promotion and prevention, and information.
In the most recent analysis by WHO on countries' performance in relation to the Action Plan (Mental Health Atlas 2024), it was shown that progress towards the agreed-upon targets remains insufficient.
The debate on mental health resurfaced after a 30-year-old man with psychiatric problems and over 20 prior records was detained for allegedly beating a Brazilian tourist without reason, who died shortly after the attack in a Buenos Aires hospital.
The incident occurred at noon last Thursday on Corrientes Avenue at 3200, where the man struck María Vilma das Dores Cascalho da Silva Bosco, 69, without apparent cause. The woman fell to the floor and was assisted by the SAME (emergency medical service) and taken to a hospital, where she died moments later due to a severe skull trauma caused by the blow.
This event once again put the issue of mental health on the agenda. National Law No. 26,657, passed in 2010 and regulated in 2013, establishes, among other things, that any hospitalization must be carried out with the informed consent of the patient or their legal representative, which in many cases limits the actions of the affected person's family.
One of the difficulties is that judicial protocols and deadlines can delay urgent clinical decisions and hinder intervention in severe clinical cases, fueling the debate on the need to review the current law.
The aforementioned consent for hospitalization is only valid when the person is lucid and understands their situation. If, during hospitalization, they lose this lucidity, the consent is nullified, the hospitalization becomes involuntary, and in these cases, a judge intervenes.
Furthermore, the law requires the signature of two professionals from different disciplines, proof of a certain and imminent risk, and the absence of outpatient alternatives. These requirements were designed to guarantee rights but have become one of the main obstacles in the mental health system.
What WHO says
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables individuals to cope with life stresses, realize their abilities, learn and work effectively, and contribute to their community.
