StrongMinds at the UN: Making the Case for Mental Health in the Global HIV Response

In June, StrongMinds joined global health leaders at the United Nations to advocate for a critical but often overlooked piece of the HIV response: mental health.

StrongMinds Advocacy Director, Liz Bayer, highlighted a broader milestone for StrongMinds: our community-based model, delivered by trained lay providers, has now reached over two million people with depression treatment across East and Southern Africa, proof that mental health care can be scaled effectively even in low-resource settings. That evidence base is exactly what gave weight to the message Liz brought to the UN.

The message was direct: mental health and physical health are not separate issues, and they can’t be treated as separate priorities in policy either. As our statement to member states put it, “People with untreated mental health conditions are more likely to acquire new HIV infections. And people living with HIV who also have depression have lower ART adherence and less viral suppression.”

StrongMinds called on member states to adopt measurable, funded commitments to integrate mental health care across HIV prevention and treatment programs, a step that could accelerate progress on global HIV targets while building more person-centered, rights-based health systems.

Mental health care isn’t an add-on to the HIV response. It’s part of what makes that response work.