The COVID-19 virus is attacking not only our physical health; but also it increases mental suffering. Mental health is the heart of our humanity. It allows us to lead a rich and fulfilling lives and to participate fully in our communities. Even without a pandemic, one in four of us suffer from a mental health impact in the course of our lives. The shocks related to COVID-19 are now pushing many more fragility and pain: pain at the loss of loved ones; The fear for the loss of jobs; The isolation and restriction of movement; difficult family dynamics; The uncertainty and fear of the future. Each of these can trigger alone or deepen anxiety. Today many people also suffer the most. Health care workers are among the most deeply affected. I recently had the opportunity to speak, Umair Bachlani, a nurse in intensive care in Karachi, Pakistan, how he deals with personal and professional stress. Mr. Bachlani and his colleagues Wear protective equipment for up to 16 hours a day while trying to save lives. When they go home at the end of a long shift, they have to live away from their families to protect them from possible infection. Charlene Sunkel, a South African lawyer about mental health issues, who lives with schizophrenia, told me that after decades of neglect and lack of investment in mental health services, is deeply concerned about the dramatic increase in mental illness because COVID-19 He pointed out that, while physical symptoms caused by the virus disappear in a few weeks, people will also suffer further the effects of pain, anxiety and depression for months or even years. In addition to health workers, the elderly most vulnerable people, young people, people with pre-existing mental disorders and the already caught in conflicts and crises. I have always believed that mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, are some of the major causes of human misery. My late first wife was a psychoanalyst, and my sister is a psychiatrist. Through them and through my work in politics, and as High Commissioner for Refugees, I had the crippling burden of mental ill health to understand, especially for people in crisis situations. This suffering is often compounded by stigmatization and discrimination to seek help to make people afraid. In many COVID-19 countries provide reductions on mental health and plant closures. Unless we act now to address the mental health needs related to the pandemic, there will be huge in the long-term consequences for families, communities and societies. This much is the background for the short COVID-19 policy and mental health, the United Nations launched in May to life 13. It includes recommendations to governments and other help to the mental health dimensions mitigate the pandemic. Mental health services are an essential part of all government responses to the 19-COVID They need to be expanded and fully funded. Policies need for mental health support and care involved, and protect their human rights and dignity. Closures and quarantines do not discriminate against people with mental health problems. As we recover from the pandemic, we must seize the opportunity to build mental health services for the future, displaced by community services so that they make available online and ensuring that mental health in general health insurance. It will be crucial to involve people with life experience of mental health conditions for the development and provision of services. There is no health without mental health. The United Nations is strongly committed to creating a world where anyone, anywhere, to have someone to turn to for emotional support. I urge governments, civil society, health authorities and others to unite to address urgently the serious psychological consequences of this pandemic.
We have to take measures for crisis mental health in this pandemic address
