WHO Releases Guide to Shift Mental Health Care From Hospitals to Communities

The World Health Organization released a new practical guide on October 9, 2026, calling on countries to shift mental health care away from long-term psychiatric hospitals and toward community-based services.

The guide, released ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, outlines steps governments can take to close or reduce reliance on large psychiatric institutions and build networks of community support instead. It includes recommendations on housing, employment support, and peer-led services as alternatives to hospitalization.

WHO officials said the guide was prompted by data showing that nearly half of people currently held in psychiatric facilities around the world are kept there involuntarily, sometimes for months or years. The organization said this practice often violates human rights and produces worse health outcomes than community-based care.

The document draws on examples from countries that have successfully reduced psychiatric bed counts while improving outcomes, including Italy, which began deinstitutionalizing its mental health system in the 1970s, and more recent reforms in Brazil and parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the guide was intended to give health ministries a concrete roadmap rather than general principles. The organization is offering technical assistance to countries that request help implementing the recommendations.

Mental health advocates welcomed the guide but noted that community-based care requires sustained funding and trained workers, resources that many low- and middle-income countries lack. WHO said it would work with donors and development banks to help close the funding gap.