D r B r o c k C h i s h o l m , t h e fi r s t
Director-General of the World Health
Organization (WHO), was a psychiatrist
and shepherded the notion that mental
and physical health were intimately
linked. He famously stated that “without
mental health there can be no true
physical health”.
Half a century later,
we have strong evidence elucidating
the bidirectional relationship between
mental illnesses – specifically depression
and anxiety – and physical health
outcomes. However, policy continues
to lag behind the evidence in this
regard, as demonstrated by our global
noncommunicable disease response