#Healthsystems

The Trump administration’s sweeping move to eliminate the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has sent shockwaves through the global mental health community, raising urgent questions on how political decisions at the heart of developed nations reverberate as far as Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia. As documented in a sobering opinion piece by Paolo del Vecchio—a mental health advocate and former senior leader at SAMHSA—this U.S. policy shift comes at a precarious time, where suicide is the second leading cause of death among young Americans, substance use deaths top 200,000 annually, and the economic burden of untreated mental illness exceeds $700 billion each year STAT News.