The need for a transversal SDG: mental health

It is not as if the mental health is not a part of the 17 SDGs – UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In SDG 3 – Healthy Lives and Well-being – goal 3.4 states: “By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.” In a time when a virus has inverted the world order, I kept thinking if this is enough.

I think it’s worth it to make a quick pause here to go back to the moment when the SDGs were created. The first steps were given during Rio+20, the United Nations’ Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. I was there. It was amazing to see that and other goals finally going from theory to practice. Further along the way, in Sept/2015, we were at the iconic UN headquarters in New York, where representatives of 193 UN Member States set the terms for the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and approved the 17 SDGs. Therefore, we now had an agenda which involved the whole world, for both developed and developing countries (different from what had been established in the previous Millennium Development Goals, which aimed only at the developing countries). Because this is a worldwide challenge. Period.

It was quite a job, and very well executed. From the life below water to the climate action. From the poverty eradication up to sustainable cities and communities. There are 17 goals that summarize our difficulties and opportunities. They give us guidance, objectives and ways to implement them all. But this is all made by people, by us. And we know very well that we can be more (or less) efficient, practical or happy, depending on how our mental health is.

The United Nations know that. During a London event in May/2018, for example, UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared: “One in four people experience a mental health episode in their lifetime, but the issue remains largely neglected, even though it is critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. As we face the new COVID-19 pandemic, the UN health agency’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Use has developed an advice on safeguarding our mental health, such as follows: “Be empathetic to all those who are affected, in and from any country”, warning against stigmatizing any person who has or has had the virus.

In other words, and as expected, the subject has been under close observation and has held the United Nation’s attention. If, according to the World Health Organization (WHO):

-      Mental health is a condition in which the human being reaches the so-called “integrated well-being”, which in turn involves the physical, mental, social and spiritual domains (therefore not merely the absence of disease or infirmity);

-      By reaching that well-being, “every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”;

it is my opinion that mental health is a condition for advancement in all SDGs, thus my reflection about it being a “transversal SDG”, intertwined with all other SDGs.

I always say that “everything begins and ends with people”. People begin wars and find the cure for serious diseases. People encourage other people or feel threatened by them and then boycott them. People who are better resolved mentally are, in fact, better prepared to make decisions thinking about the community. They act in synergy. They are more empathetic.

However, mental health is not at a standstill. It oscillates throughout our lives. Sometimes we are “healthier”, but other times we just need to give more attention to our mental health. It is a never-ending process. For that reason, we must always watch it out, especially during the unique and traumatic moments of the world, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Lately we have been more anxious, more scared, more worried. The online world has turned into our new boss; our world has been restricted to the walls of our houses; leaving our places for the simple right of coming and going has turned into an act of courage, and subject to criticism and retaliation. More than ever, we have come to realize how fundamental our mental health is to just make it to the next day. And the next one. And the one after that.

One of the most inspiring parts of the document from the United Nations, “Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development”, is the second paragraph from the preamble: “All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan. We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.”

The word “transformation” is part of the name of the document and it is its inspiration. Psychoanalysis states that there is no cure, but a “person’s existential transformation”, awareness, a change in his or her mental attitude. This is what we need every day: people that are more aware, more resilient, more focused on transformation, and that are able to change themselves and the world.

This is why I propose a transversal view of the mental health in the SDGs. Citizens, governmental authorities, business leaders, consumers – in other words, people, no matter their role in the society – who have better mental health will certainly be able to be part of and work in the SDGs in a more spontaneous, active, balanced and consequently more fulfilling way. I do believe 2030 will come stronger and happier, and that will be because of everything that has been built along the years before it. We will evaluate the victories in the SDGs, and also what is still left to conquer. We will go on, and no one will be left behind.