October 30, 2025 — For the first time in history, the United Nations has formally placed mental health on equal footing with chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. After five months of negotiations, the new declaration—backed by heads of state and health ministers around the world—will move to the UN General Assembly this October for final approval, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The document calls for a major global shift: treat mental health not in specialized institutions but in everyday primary care clinics, with a goal of reaching 150 million additional people by 2030.

But front-line clinicians say the core problem remains unchanged: access.

More than a billion people live with mental health conditions today, yet fewer than 7% receive effective treatment. For many, the wait for care stretches on for months.

“Outdated health systems have spent decades treating mental health problems as an afterthought, yet they worsen conditions like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease every minute,” said Dr Hannah Nearney, UK Medical Director at Flow Neuroscience, a company developing at-home, brain-stimulation-based depression treatments. “Mental illness reduces a person’s ability to take good care of their physical health. Why it isn’t treated as urgently as physical illness is only a rhetorical question.”

A recent study of 275,000 Europeans, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, found that people with depressive symptoms have 57% more chronic conditions, while individuals managing chronic disease are 1.5 times more likely to experience depression.

“When a patient walks into a GP’s office, their mental health should be managed with the same urgency as blood pressure or temperature,” said Dr Kultar Singh Garcha, Global Medical Director at Flow Neuroscience. “The main problem isn’t awareness—it’s accessibility. Treatments exist, but too few are scalable or visible to frontline doctors.”

The Cycle: Long Waits, Quick Prescriptions

In many countries, mental health care still defaults to long waits followed by short appointments and additional medications.

“Imagine waiting months for an appointment, and after ten minutes you leave with another prescription added to your list,” said Dr Garcha. “Patients managing chronic disease already take multiple drugs. We need options that don’t add to that burden.”

Clinicians caution that simply asking primary care providers to “do more” without new tools will only stretch the system further.

At-Home Brain Stimulation Shows Promise

Among emerging non-drug interventions, at-home brain stimulation is gaining traction as one of the few clinically proven, scalable options.

Flow Neuroscience’s device—already in use within the NHS—can be prescribed and monitored remotely. In a recent pilot, the NHS reported a 71% reduction in depressive symptoms among participating patients.

“We saw firsthand that what we need already exists. Unfortunately, it’s available only in some UK clinics,” said Dr Garcha. “Integrated into primary care, these at-home treatments make mental health care more accessible and affordable. They reduce waiting times, free up clinicians, and help patients get relief sooner—before symptoms escalate into crisis care.”

Experts say that stronger regulatory support will be essential to make these treatments reimbursable and widely available through public health systems.

“Even before the UN declaration is formally adopted, its overwhelming support signals the end of the idea that mental health comes second,” Dr Nearney said. “The next step, which is already here, is building real access. Recovery in any chronic disease starts with a healthy brain.”

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About Flow Neuroscience

Flow Neuroscience is a healthcare company specializing in tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation) medical therapies. The company was co-founded in Sweden in 2016 by clinical psychologist Daniel Mansson and engineer Erik Rehn. CEO Erin Lee, formerly of Google, Uber, and Babylon, joined in 2022. Now based in the UK, Flow is the only at-home medical tDCS device with clinically proven effectiveness in treating depression. It is used by the National Health Service (NHS) and approved across Europe, Norway, Switzerland, and Hong Kong.