WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the Private Global Mental Health Funder Roundtable – 19 January 2026

Dear colleagues and friends,

Good afternoon, it's an honour to be here, and I thank Elisha and Prospira Global for the invitation to address you.

The fact that an organization like Prospira even exists says a lot about how far we have come in mental health.

Over one billion people live with a mental health condition, yet most do not receive adequate care.

Mental health conditions are among the leading causes of disability globally, and also impose high costs on households, employers and economies.

Mental health accounts for only 2% of health budgets, unchanged since 2017.

Spending disparities are wide, ranging from 65 US dollars per person in high-income countries to just 4 US cents per person in low-income countries.

For many years, mental health has been a neglected issue in societies and, unfortunately, even in global health.

Over the past decade, that has changed dramatically. Mental health is now recognized as central to the well-being of individuals, societies and economies.

Political commitment to mental health is at an all-time high.

Just last month, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health.

The declaration includes a global commitment to expand access to mental care to 150 million more people.

That target is not sufficient on its own, but it is a meaningful step forward, and it gives us a concrete frame for action.

At the same time, we must be honest about the challenge before us: we are operating in a much more constrained financial environment.

Public health budgets are tightening, geopolitical pressures are reshaping priorities, and the global health architecture is in flux.

In this context, public financing remains critical as the anchor of equity, accountability, and universality.

But public funding alone is no longer sufficient to meet the scale of need.

Private capital and philanthropy are therefore not an "extra" - they are an essential complement.

When strategically deployed, grounded in evidence, and aligned with public priorities, they can help sustain and accelerate progress at a time when momentum would otherwise slow.

Private funding for mental health is growing, but risks sporadic deployment without coordination.

Too much capital remains fragmented, short-term, or concentrated in high-income settings.

Activity is increasing, but impact is uneven. This is the difference between momentum and maturity.

Mature financing is not about more individual projects. It is about alignment, pooled approaches, and shared accountability.

It means flexible and, where possible, unrestricted funding that allows systems to respond to evolving needs.

It means blended models where philanthropy can de-risk innovation and enable capital to flow to underserved settings.

And it means investing with a long-term view, particularly for young people who bear the brunt of the global mental health burden.

This is where WHO plays a unique role. WHO provides the technical guidance, normative standards, and system-level perspective that help ensure capital strengthens, rather than fragments, the global mental health agenda.

Through partnerships - and through mechanisms such as the WHO Foundation - private and philanthropic funding can support mental health in ways that are evidence-based, coordinated, and aligned with Member State priorities.

We have seen this work when funding is pooled, guided by expertise, and focused on system-level outcomes.

For example, the Iconiq Youth Mental Well-Being Co-Lab, shepherded by Prospira Global, is supporting 25 organizations that are reducing youth anxiety and depression, including WHO - and I thank Iconiq and Prospira for your support and leadership in this area.

My ask to all of you today is simple but demanding: to move beyond signalling support for mental health, and toward financing systems that deliver the quality mental health services that people need.

If we do this well - together - private capital can help ensure that mental health is not only visible, but durable, equitable, and scaled for the long term.

Because there is no health without mental health.

I thank you.