Driving Mental Health into UHC: From Political Leadership to System Implementation

This side event, co-organized by UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health and the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN), is convened at the margins of the 79th World Health Assembly, and meant to create a dedicated space where political leadership, technical expertise, and implementation experience can come together to address a persistent challenge: the gap between political commitment to mental health and its translation into effective Universal Health Coverage (UHC) implementation.

 The added value of this session lies in bringing together actors who influence different parts of the system, from political decision-making to service delivery, in order to enable more structured exchange on how implementation challenges are experienced and addressed in practice.

 By focusing on key system-level levers such as financing arrangements, workforce organisation, and service integration, the discussion aims to surface practical entry points for strengthening implementation across diverse country contexts.

 Ultimately, the session seeks to move beyond high-level alignment and support a more operational understanding of how to translate commitment into effective, system-wide change.