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Since the COVID pandemic, the world has seen an  increase in mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, especially in younger populations, affecting health and wellbeing, which does not seem to be decreasing. As such, effectively identifying mental health challenges and providing a supportive environment for mental health to flourish for both staff and students has become an important concern and priority for universities. In 2024, the IAU SDG3 cluster is diving more deeply into the nexus between the current environment, mental health, developments in e-health and knowledge and skills to strengthen mental health in the current poly-crisis environment.

In October 2024, the IAU SDG3 cluster held two webinars looking more specifically at how universities are currently supporting their student and staff´s mental health, and learnings to date – identifying innovation and good practice, current challenges and plans for the future. 

• English webinar
• Spanish webinar
• Press note

On May 23, 2023, the WHO announced that the COVID pandemic is no longer a health emergency. It has however left many challenges that countries are now dealing with, one of them being the increase of mental health issues. Current health systems are having trouble matching the increase in demand related to mental health. Addressing mental health issues as they arise, and preventive measures are key to improving mental health at university and in society, and to avoiding more severe cases.  What lessons can be learned more generally from that experience around how to cope with uncertainty and a rapidly changing environment?

E-health tools can serve as a mechanism to reduce the burden on health systems. A plethora of applications have been launched to support individuals dealing with mental issues and online therapy is on the rise. What has worked, and what have been some of the hurdles in development and uptake? 

• Webinar
• News item
• Agenda

Since the COVID pandemic, the world has seen an increase in mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, especially in younger populations, affecting health and wellbeing, which does not seem to be decreasing. As such, effectively identifying mental health challenges and providing a supportive environment for mental health to flourish for both staff and students has become an important concern and priority for universities. In 2024, the IAU SDG3 cluster is diving more deeply into the nexus between the current environment, mental health, developments in e-health and knowledge and skills to strengthen mental health in the current poly-crisis environment.

In October 2024, the IAU SDG3 cluster held two webinars looking more specifically at how universities are currently supporting their student and staff´s mental health, and learnings to date – identifying innovation and good practice, current challenges and plans for the future. 

• Webinar
• News item
• Reflections on health, equity and gender

• Webinar
• News item
• Video recap of the webinar