Mental health is a priority for sustainable development and global health. In a year marked by electoral processes in Peru and other Latin American countries, such as Colombia and Brazil, this issue emerges as an unavoidable priority. However, it remains one of the most overlooked areas on the political agenda.

Currently, more than one billion people worldwide live with a mental health condition. In this regard, in Latin America and the Caribbean, it is estimated that one in four people will experience a mental health condition at some point in their lifetime. In Peru, this figure rises to one in three people. However, on average, 8 out of 10 people in the region who require mental health treatment do not receive it, a gap that is also present in Peru.

In this context, we partnered with the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN), the leading global network for advocacy and activism in this field, to develop an advocacy report that presents key evidence and public policy recommendations for mental health, which the governments of Peru and other Latin American countries should prioritize and invest in.

Additionally, five priority areas for action were identified, based on the commitments adopted in December 2025 by the United Nations General Assembly (UN) through the political declaration of the Fourth High-Level Meeting on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being:

1. Service reform: take urgent action to end institutionalization by progressively redirecting resources toward comprehensive, community-based mental health services.

2. Sustainable financing: mobilize and allocate adequate and sustained resources to promote, prevent, and address mental health conditions, including national resources as well as bilateral and multilateral cooperation funding.

3. Addressing determinants: address the social, economic, and environmental determinants of mental health by considering all aspects of people’s lives and the risks that affect their well-being.

4. Child and youth mental health: adopt comprehensive strategies for promotion, prevention, early intervention, and care throughout the life course, while implementing urgent measures for the prevention of suicide and depression.

5. Social participation: implement, strengthen, and sustain meaningful and ongoing participation of people with lived experience of mental health conditions, including young people, in decision-making processes.

This document includes key data and information on the Peruvian national context, contextualizing international recommendations within the local reality.

This report seeks to guide the mental health agenda of future governments. It also aims to support candidates, political parties, and civil society in recognizing mental health—particularly the mental health of children, adolescents, and young people—as a public policy priority.

This document was developed in March 2026 by Lucero Andaluz Llerena (De-Mentes, Peru), with contributions from Carolina Díaz Pimentel (Peruvian Neurodivergent Coalition), Luiz Roberto Carvalho (Soulbeegood | Vertentes Ecossistema de Saúde Mental, Brazil), and Viviana Garzón (Mixera FUND, Colombia), Latin American advocates and members of the Global Mental Health Action Network, with the support of Antonis Kousoulis and Divya Sharma from the Network’s Secretariat.