Call: Mentally - access to mental health care and improving mental health literacy

The EU is required by its founding treaty to ensure that human health is protected as part of all its policies, and to work with the EU countries to improve public health, prevent human illness and eliminate sources of danger to physical and mental health. The 3rd Health Programme has 4 overarching objectives:

1. Promote health, prevent diseases and foster supportive environments for healthy lifestyles taking into account the 'health in all policies' principle,
2. Protect Union citizens from serious cross-border health threats,
3. Contribute to innovative, efficient and sustainable health systems,
4. Facilitate access to better and safer healthcare for Union citizens.

• To develop and test a multi-applicable framework across European countries and stakeholders in order to achieve the adequate (as needed) access to mental health care (in terms of diagnose and treatment in women and men) in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders within the field of mental health. This should help reducing excessive treatment of individuals in mental distress that do not need specialized help and facilitate best treatment of those who need specialized care.
• To increase primary care professionals’ competencies, evaluate organization and capacity of care systems, and improve patient outcomes by developing different tools.