Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for mental health reform as the pandemic causes a mental health crisis. The pandemic has caused fear and anxiety among the general population as they deal with the threat of a deadly illness, grief over the loss of loved ones, loss of income and general insecurity. To make matters worse, the nature of this global health crisis has meant that people are cut off from mental health services and support networks.
This has led to a call for governments to provide resilient and inclusive mental health care systems and to recognize that a person’s mental well-being is closely bound up with the availability of health care, their living conditions, their employment and their overall social condition. Mental health requires a holistic approach which understands that the right to health includes the right to mental health as well. It is necessary to reform relevant laws and policies to improve mental health services and make them available to all as a basic human right.