Momentum is growing globally for rights-based, person-centered, and recovery-oriented mental health policies and action plans, ensuring equitable access to quality services within Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This publication provides a clear framework for strengthening leadership, governance, service delivery, and workforce capacity. It highlights mental health’s connection to social and structural determinants—such as poverty, housing, education, and employment—offering actionable strategies to address these, combat stigma and discrimination, and expand access to care. It emphasizes the crucial role of people with lived experience in shaping inclusive, responsive systems and advocates for cross-sector collaboration to deliver holistic support, integrating lifestyle, and physical health, psychological, social, and economic interventions while promoting well-being and prevention.

The Guidance comprises five modules.

Module 3. Process for developing, implementing, and evaluating mental health policy and strategic action plans proposes an inclusive, country-led process that prioritizes and tailors policy options and strategic planning to national contexts. It also includes checklists for the key components of policy and strategic action plans and the process used to develop them. 

• Module 1. Introduction, purpose and use of the guidance
• Module 2. Key reform areas, directives, strategies, and actions for mental health policy & strategic action plans
• Module 4. Country case scenarios
• Module 5. Comprehensive directory of policy areas, directives, strategies and actions

P.11 Strategy 5.1.3 - Information on people with mental health conditions, psychosocial disabilities, groups facing discrimination or at risk of discrimination and other key mental health issues.
The situational analysis should include data on the prevalence of mental health conditions, psychosocial disabilities, and other significant mental health concerns in the country. It should encompass information on specific categories of mental health conditions, as well as data related to alcohol and other psychoactive substance use, cognitive and intellectual disabilities and neurological conditions including dementia, and epilepsy (if these are typically managed within the mental health system). Additionally, data collection efforts should aim to identify groups at increased risk of mental health conditions, psychosocial disabilities, and other significant mental health concerns. Disaggregating data by relevant characteristics (for example by gender, age, and socio-economic status) can enhance this understanding. It is also important to describe local understanding of mental health, including indigenous understanding. Understanding suicide rates, contributing factors, and the most common and lethal means of suicide and suicide attempts is crucial. This stage complements Step 5.1.1, which focuses on social and structural determinants of mental health.

P.15 Psychological interventions: cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy, behavioural activation therapy, brief psychodynamic therapy, third-wave therapies, trauma informed approaches (for example, psychotherapy with a trauma focus, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), and — mainly in relation to alcohol and  other psychoactive substance use — contingency management therapy, motivational interviewing and enhancement therapy, positive affect therapy, supportive expressive therapy (74, 75)..