WHO Releases Guide to Move Mental Health Care Out of Psychiatric Hospitals and Into Communities
The World Health Organization released a practical guide on October 9 to help countries shift mental health care from long-term psychiatric institutions to community-based services. The guide outlines a three-phase framework covering planning, preparation, and service delivery. WHO data shows that only 9 percent of reporting countries have fully transitioned to community-based mental health models.
The World Health Organization released a practical guide on October 9 to help countries move mental health care out of long-term psychiatric hospitals and into community settings, where patients can receive support while maintaining their freedom and social connections.
The guide, titled "Supporting the transition to community-based mental health and social care," provides psychiatric hospital leaders and policymakers with a framework organized into three phases: plan, prepare, and provide. It outlines steps for reducing admissions, improving human rights protections within existing facilities, and facilitating supported discharges that connect individuals with housing, employment, and social support.
WHO data shows that progress toward community-based care remains uneven worldwide. Only 9 percent of reporting countries have fully transitioned to community-based mental health models. More than half, or 53 percent, remain in the early stages of reform. Approximately 49 percent of psychiatric hospital admissions are involuntary, and more than one in five hospital stays lasts longer than a year.
Nearly half of all public mental health funding globally is currently dedicated to maintaining large, long-stay psychiatric institutions, the WHO said.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said individuals should not have to sacrifice their freedom, dignity, or community connections to receive mental health support.
The guide was released ahead of World Mental Health Day, which carried the theme "Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change." The WHO emphasized that reform must be driven by people with personal experience of mental health conditions, not just by professionals.
The organization pointed to Sri Lanka as an example of a country that has worked to replace isolated asylums with a decentralized network of district and community-based services, demonstrating that the transition is achievable across different income levels.
