24 July 2025, Cairo, Egypt – On 17 July 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean launched the Regional Coalition for Mental Health and Substance Use Prevention.
A webinar held for the launch brought together civil society organizations (CSOs) working on mental health and substance use from across the Region.
Speakers from the Regional Office included Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy, Director of Programme Management Dr Adham Ismail, Regional Advisor Dr Khalid Saeed, and Technical Officer Dr Dalia Elasi. Other speakers included the Director of Partnerships and Secretariat Lead at the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN) Dr Antonis Kousoulis, GMHAN Officer Ms Divya Sharma, President of Justice for Health Sasha Hajj-Assaf, and representatives from key member organizations.
The Coalition aims to promote mental health literacy, prevent substance use and reduce stigma by meaningfully engaging and empowering people with lived experience (PWLE) and their organizations. It is hosted on an interactive platform in collaboration with GMHAN, led by United for Global Mental Health.
The platform includes links to the websites of member organizations and a unique engagement space GMHAN Circle. The dedicated page Civil Society Speaks highlights success stories on programmes, initiatives and campaigns for mental health and substance use, implemented and shared by CSOs across the Region.
The Coalition’s mandate aligns with the WHO’s Framework for Meaningful Engagement of People Living with Noncommunicable Diseases, Mental Health, and Neurological Conditions, and WHO’s Global 2030 and regional commitments articulated in the comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-, the Regional action plan for mental health and psychological support in emergencies 2024–2030 and the Regional flagship initiative on accelerating public health action on substance use.
Currently, the coalition includes over 50 member organizations and individual experts engaged in a wide range of activities, covering advocacy, capacity-building, mental health and substance use promotion and prevention, service delivery (treatment/rehabilitation), and support for policy and legislative development.
The Coalition is the first of its kind in the Region. It is a major step towards empowering People with lived experience (PWLE) and will support WHO’s work in the field of mental health and substance use.