A refugee camp./PHOTO ; Pexel
Every conflict, flood, and displacement camp leaves behind more than destroyed homes; it leaves people carrying invisible wounds.
Yet for millions living through humanitarian crises, psychological support remains out of reach.
This year’s World Mental Health Day, observed on October 10, 2025, shines a light on that neglected reality.
Under the theme “Access to Services: Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies,” the global campaign calls for mental health care to become a central part of humanitarian aid, not a secondary concern once physical needs are met.
It’s against this backdrop that the United Nations, backed by US$13.2 million from Wellcome, has launched the Greentree Acceleration Plan, an ambitious initiative to scale up mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings worldwide.
Filling a Critical Gap in Crisis Response
Mental health has long been sidelined in humanitarian response, overshadowed by immediate survival needs like food, water, and shelter.
But studies show that roughly one in five people living in conflict-affected areas suffers from a mental health condition, while many more experience acute distress that goes untreated.
The new UN-led initiative aims to change that.
By developing, evaluating, and delivering evidence-based psychological interventions, the Greentree Acceleration Plan seeks to make care accessible to those most affected by war, displacement, and disaster.
The first programmes will begin in Chad and Lebanon, two nations confronting overlapping crises.
In Chad, where nearly 40 percent of the population, about seven million people, requires humanitarian assistance, and in Lebanon, where over one million people face severe instability, the initiative will work to integrate mental health care into existing humanitarian services such as education, health, and protection.
Building Resilience from the Ground Up
At the heart of the plan is a recognition that mental health support must be locally driven and scientifically grounded.
The funding from Wellcome will help strengthen national systems through policy reform, workforce training, and capacity building, while also supporting research to evaluate what works and how interventions can be scaled sustainably.
An important dimension of the effort is caring for those who care for others.
Humanitarian workers, often the first to respond in crises, face high levels of stress and trauma.
The initiative will fund research into how best to protect and support their mental well-being, ensuring they are not left behind.
Evidence, Partnership, and the Power of Local Knowledge
The Greentree Acceleration Plan represents a new model of collaboration between science, policy, and community leadership.
By working with local organizations, researchers, and humanitarian agencies, the initiative ensures interventions are adapted to the social and cultural realities of each setting rather than imposed from outside.
“Mental health services are a critical but often overlooked need in humanitarian settings,” said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.
“While many effective programmes exist, we need to scale them up urgently, especially for children, women, and marginalised groups.”
The initiative also draws from lessons learned through decades of global humanitarian experience, building on frameworks like the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s mental health and psychosocial support guidelines.
Turning Awareness into Action
As World Mental Health Day 2025 urges governments and agencies to close the gap in mental health care during emergencies, the Greentree Acceleration Plan offers a tangible response.
By combining research, local innovation, and global partnership, it seeks to make psychological care as essential to humanitarian response as food or medicine, ensuring that no crisis response leaves behind the emotional and psychological needs of survivors.
“People who have suffered losses, attacks, family separations, and gender-based violence carry wounds that can fuel cycles of trauma and instability,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in support of the initiative.
“Supporting their mental health is essential to building lasting peace.”
The message is clear: as the world responds to escalating crises, mental health cannot remain on the margins.
This World Mental Health Day, the UN and Wellcome’s joint effort stands as a reminder that recovery must begin with the mind as much as the body.
About Wellcome
Wellcome is a global charitable foundation that supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone.
Its work focuses on three key areas: mental health, infectious diseases, and the health impacts of climate change.
Headquartered in London, the foundation supports research and innovation across more than 100 countries, investing over £1 billion annually to help build a world where no one is held back by ill health.
