On 26 April, Eurochild took part in a hybrid roundtable discussion organised by EuroHealthNet on The European Semester: a tool to embed health, equity, and wellbeing across the EU.
One of the key focuses of the discussion has been the importance of promoting mental well-being. Indeed, the accumulation of recent crises has exacerbated the pre-existing and created new risk factors for poor mental health. Despite this, in the majority of cases, policies to address mental health issues continue to be focused on individuals rather than on addressing the overall underlying causes that lead to experiencing poor mental health. In addition to this, these policies do not take into account the need for targeted interventions for different parts of the population.
Building up on this, during the discussion, as Eurochild, we raised the issue of the increasing poor mental health among children and young people; this definitely necessitates a stronger and distinct approach compared to adult mental health with targeted interventions. And, although several post-pandemic efforts have focused on tackling the impacts on children’s well-being, their mental health seems not to be a priority for many Member States.
Indeed, European Semester recommendations do not include children or children’s mental health specifically.
Considering this, it is clear that the European Semester needs to better guide Member States in establishing legislative frameworks integrated into the EU’s overarching and comprehensive mental health strategy which also implies having specific recommendations on children’s mental health.
Find out more:
- Read our recommendations on (In)visible children Report
- Read the full EuroHealthNet roundtable discussion report
