10 October (2023), World Mental Health Day

“MENTAL HEALTH IS A UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHT"

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/2023),

“World Mental Health Day 2023 is an opportunity for people and communities to unite behind the theme “Mental health is a universal human right” to improve knowledge, raise awareness and drive actions that promote and protect everyone’s mental health as a universal human right. (…)”

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I am happy to see that slowly it is becoming easier to talk about mental health, however it is still too much of a tabu or perceived personal weakness in far too many contexts. Unlike many things in our life for which we tend to deny responsibility, being sick is not a choice. It also means that, at some point, it is very likely that we all are mentally sick; hopefully just temporarily…

Hence, joining the efforts to demystify the topic and protect everyone who may - in the past, present or future - suffer from a mental health condition, I invite you to join this year’s campaign to recognise mental health as a universal human right! :)