A Green Paper on Mental Health has been adopted by the European Commission this week with the aim of launching a public consultation on how to better tackle mental illness and promote good mental well-being within the Union.
Markos Kyprianou, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said: “I can think of no other disease that would remain so low profile if such a high percentage of the population were struck by it. Mental health has been swept under the carpet for too long.”
Mental illness affects over 27 per cent of the adult population in Europe every year, and is responsibly for the majority of the 58,000 suicides.
The Green Paper proposes three main areas for action within the European Union: opening up a dialogue with the Member States to agree upon an action plan for mental health; launching a European platform on mental health; and building a European information resource which will include monitoring of trends, the collection of data, and identifying best practice.
For more information on the Green Paper, go to: The European Commission Website