<p>The mental health impact of the pandemic will be "long-term and far-reaching", the World Health Organization said Thursday, as experts and leaders called for action on Covid-linked anxiety and stress.</p>.<p>"Everyone is affected in one way or another," the WHO said in a statement at the start of a two-day meeting in Athens with health ministers from dozens of countries.</p>.<p>It said "anxieties around virus transmission, the psychological impact of lockdowns and self-isolation" had contributed to a mental health crisis, along with stresses linked to unemployment, financial worries and social alienation.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/panorama/the-pandemic-has-brought-an-epidemic-of-mental-distress-nimhans-director-1010618.html" target="_blank">The pandemic has brought an ‘epidemic’ of mental distress: NIMHANS director </a></strong></p>.<p>"The mental health impacts of the pandemic will be long term and far-reaching," the statement added.</p>.<p>The WHO's regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said mental health should be considered a "fundamental human right", stressing how the virus had torn lives apart.</p>.<p>"The pandemic has shaken the world," he told the conference.</p>.<p>"More than four million lives lost globally, livelihoods ruined, families and communities forced apart, businesses bankrupted, and people deprived of opportunities."</p>.<p>The WHO called for the strengthening of mental health services in general and the improvement of access to care via technology.</p>.<p>It also urged better psychological support services in schools, universities, workplaces and for people on the front line of the fight against Covid-19.</p>.<p>The ministers heard from a 38-year-old Greek woman called Katerina who told them how she had been receiving treatment for a psychiatric disorder since 2002 and had been coping well until the pandemic hit.</p>.<p>She was no longer able to attend in-person support groups and could not see her father, forcing her to boost her treatment.</p>.<p>"The pressure of social isolation led to increased anxiety," she said.</p>
<p>The mental health impact of the pandemic will be "long-term and far-reaching", the World Health Organization said Thursday, as experts and leaders called for action on Covid-linked anxiety and stress.</p>.<p>"Everyone is affected in one way or another," the WHO said in a statement at the start of a two-day meeting in Athens with health ministers from dozens of countries.</p>.<p>It said "anxieties around virus transmission, the psychological impact of lockdowns and self-isolation" had contributed to a mental health crisis, along with stresses linked to unemployment, financial worries and social alienation.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/panorama/the-pandemic-has-brought-an-epidemic-of-mental-distress-nimhans-director-1010618.html" target="_blank">The pandemic has brought an ‘epidemic’ of mental distress: NIMHANS director </a></strong></p>.<p>"The mental health impacts of the pandemic will be long term and far-reaching," the statement added.</p>.<p>The WHO's regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said mental health should be considered a "fundamental human right", stressing how the virus had torn lives apart.</p>.<p>"The pandemic has shaken the world," he told the conference.</p>.<p>"More than four million lives lost globally, livelihoods ruined, families and communities forced apart, businesses bankrupted, and people deprived of opportunities."</p>.<p>The WHO called for the strengthening of mental health services in general and the improvement of access to care via technology.</p>.<p>It also urged better psychological support services in schools, universities, workplaces and for people on the front line of the fight against Covid-19.</p>.<p>The ministers heard from a 38-year-old Greek woman called Katerina who told them how she had been receiving treatment for a psychiatric disorder since 2002 and had been coping well until the pandemic hit.</p>.<p>She was no longer able to attend in-person support groups and could not see her father, forcing her to boost her treatment.</p>.<p>"The pressure of social isolation led to increased anxiety," she said.</p>