Featured Publication: Mental Health Is a Global Public Health Issue

‍Gaining Understanding

"Mental, emotional, and psychological health have garnered increased attention as a major public health issue. Mental health includes not only the traditional focus on individual therapy interactions but also emerging frameworks designed to address mental health at the population health level.

Health is shaped by a plethora of determinants (eg, genetics, gender, socioeconomic status, education, physical environment, social support networks, access to health services) that operate at the individual, family, community, health systems, and societal levels. Because these determinants of health affect not only physical health but also psychological health, it’s imperative in public health to gain a better understanding of the many pathways through which determinants of health impact the psychological well-being of large groups of individuals."

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) is pleased to release this collection, Mental Health Is a Global Public Health Issue, which consists of 10 articles that examine relationships between family history, self-care practices, sleep, obesity, educational attainment, and depression. This collection also includes one that addresses the critical need for a population approach to improve the nation’s behavioral health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and one that offers recommendations on keeping parks and green spaces accessible to promote mental and physical health.

Learn more:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Mental Health is a Global Public Health Issue, Preventing Chronic Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention