International Conference on Mental Health & Addiction

Global mental health and addiction are an acute and growing global emergency. More than one billion people now live with a mental-health condition worldwide, yet systems remain underfunded and understaffed. In 2019 an estimated 280 million people experienced depression, a leading driver of disability and suicide. Suicide alone killed roughly 727,000–746,000 people in 2021, and it is the third leading cause of death for ages 15–29.

At the same time drug use is at historically high levels. An estimated ~292 million people used illicit drugs in 2022, swelling demand for treatment and harm reduction. Yet access to effective care is vanishingly small: recent analyses estimate only ~6.9% of people with mental-health or substance-use disorders receive effective treatment. Governments spend a median ~2% of health budgets on mental health, and the global median workforce is about 13 mental-health workers per 100,000 people—far too few in low- and middle-income settings.

The result is predictable. Millions suffer untreated illness. Overdose, chronic disability, broken families, lost productivity, and preventable deaths rise. This is not an abstract statistic. It is a policy failure. Rapid investment in community services, scaled treatment access, workforce training, and harm-reduction programs is urgent. Every year we delay we accept more preventable loss.

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