On 10 October, on the occasion of World Mental Health Day, WHO hosted the Lancet Commission on Ending Stigma and Discrimination in Mental Health.

Richard Horton, the Editor of the Lancet, highlighted effectiveness of interventions based on the overview of 216 systematic reviews of anti-stigma interventions where core finding was social contact as the most effective way to reduce stigma and discrimination. Recommendations for people with lived experience, local communities and civil society included funded programs to support people with lived experience through: (i) mutual help/peer support networks; (ii) integration of people with lived experience as providers of health and social services; and (iii) service users receive support with disclosure decisions.  

“It is time to end all forms of stigma and discrimination against people with mental health conditions, for whom there is a double jeopardy: the impact of the primary condition itself and the severe consequences of stigma. Many people describe stigma as ‘worse than the condition itself’. This Commission report is the result of a collaboration of more than 50 people globally. It brings together evidence and experience on the impact of stigma and discrimination and successful interventions for stigma reduction. The report is co-produced by people who have lived experience of mental health conditions and includes material to bring alive the voices of people with lived experience. The voices whisper or speak or shout in the poems, testimonies and the quotations that are featured” (https://www.thelancet.com/commission/stigma-and-discrimination-in-mental-health ).