Topic: Health, well-being and sport: Agenda for youth.

 Question: How the G20 can cooperate to make countries increasingly

committed to young people's mental health in developed and developing

countries?

“There can be no health or sustainable development without mental health”.

-World Health Organization (WHO)

Mental health is a complex phenomenon influenced by several socioeconomic,

environmental, biological, and psychological factors that impacts the lifestyle of a

person's thinking, feeling, mood or behavior.

Despite being an extremely stigmatized issue within the current society, in

recent years, the issue of mental health has been more frequently made visible by

governments, international organizations, cooperation forums, and other

mechanisms that involve global governance, because this phenomenon not only

involves a couple of individuals, but everyone.

In the global agenda, multilateral efforts can be highlighted, such as the

inclusion of mental health in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's), which is

an important achievement as several countries and world leaders have adopted

these guidelines to strive for a better world.

However, regardless the efforts devoted to this issue, the results in

individuals, especially in the youth population, have lagged behind in each of the

countries, specifically in developing countries. The development of public policies on

mental health is an essential aspect of the State's functions of promoting the well-

being, quality of life, and human development of its citizens.

Governments must take into account that mental health plays a great role in

people, and that not investing economically in this sector will negatively impact the

economic and social sector of a country taking into account that the treatment of the

consequence to treat a mental illness is more expensive than the long-term

prevention.

The G20, being a forum for multilateral cooperation where it brings together

the 20 economically active countries in global matters, can be a promoter of

investment in mental health by member states, as well as the rest of the States.

Some of the approaches in which the G20 can promote this important issue

is by making a time space in the G20 agenda between Heads of State, and

accompanying economic entities so that they can present the current figures of how

the quality of mental health is in people, especially those of young people, and the

quality of psychological/ psychiatrically services.

Second, taking into account the data presented, the next step would be

verifying the budgets allocated to the areas of sport (recreational or Olympic),

cultural (painting, music, dance, etc.), as well as intellectual, since an analysis must

be made to verify how the budgets of these are located, so that, the ways in which

a greater budget can be allocated towards its improvement or the addition of more

artistic or sportive disciplines towards the youth

 Although there are different sports disciplines available in all countries where

young people are increasingly involved, or hospital facilities and quality

psychological or psychiatric care in many countries, as well as prevention and

treatment are at high prices so that these two have lately become a private matter

and not a collective one; in consequence, all people, especially young people who

are financially dependent on their parents, cannot finance these mentioned.

For the aforementioned reasons, the G20 can be a promoter of mental health

for countries to commit to gradually achieving universal coverage towards mental

health in hospital and psychological entities that provide quality care with qualified

professionals in the subject, who are well remunerated. In addition, the G20

members could make agreements to promote sports, and the arts, or healthy

interests for young people to be part of activities that help them develop their

cognitive and physical skills.

With this in mind, for every period in which the G20 meets, a space should be

made on the agenda for accountability of each country member in which prevention

and treatment of mental health are checked carefully.

If I were selected to go and represent Mexico in the Y20, I would like to help

my country achieve sustainable goals for the prevention and treatment of mental

illness, as it is an area that interests me greatly, because I have had the privilege of

being in psychological therapy, and I recognize that not all people have the right to

this service. Furthermore, I recognize that with the current economical and lacking

of quality in the medical field, more young people are being untreated worldwide.
 As part of the responsibilities of the states, I firmly believe that the investment

in mental health is a long-term investment that will be reflected positively in

economic, social and cultural matters, since there will be an active society in all the

matters mentioned.