Equally Well International

A global movement for health equity

Every day, people living with mental health conditions die too soon from preventable physical conditions. Across the world, this results in a life expectancy gap of 15-20 years for around 20 percent of the population, a gap we have the knowledge and tools to close.

This inequality is not inevitable.

And together, we can change it.

What is the Equally Well International Collaborative Learning Network?

The Equally Well International Collaborative Learning Network is a movement that brings together people, organisations, and countries committed to one shared goal: protecting and improving the physical health of people living with mental health conditions.

A meeting held in Washington in 2019 saw representatives from 12 countries meet for the first time to discuss how they could work together internationally to improve the physical health of people living with mental health challenges.

The Equally Well International Collaborative Learning Network was born and continues to grow with a shared commitment to improving health equity and life expectancy for people living with mental health challenges remain strong.

Encouraged by success in establishing movements in New Zealand, England and Australia, the Washington group learnt from each other about how to influence and establish systems change through their collective impact approach and compared the unique opportunities and challenges faced by such diverse health systems.

There was strong support and enthusiasm for the initiative as exemplified by the comments from the French delegate who stated, “We commit to this international movement because we can no longer tolerate the intolerable”.

Since 2019, this informal collaboration from across the globe, represents countries who are taking action in their own systems and communities, driving policy, research, and practice change towards improving health equity and saving lives.

Through collaboration, we:

share what works across different contexts
learn from local innovation and global evidence
strengthen collective impact and influence
accelerate progress toward health equity worldwide.

Explore our work

This page connects you to key initiatives and resources from across the international movement.

Discover:

global policy insights and the International Policy Scorecard
collective advocacy like the Global Call to Vaccine Equity
shared commitments including the Toronto 2026 Communiqué
country-led resources, research and innovation:

tools for action:

Be Part of the Movement

Equally Well is not an organisation, it’s a collective.

If you are working to improve the physical health of people with lived experience of mental health challenges, you are part of this global movement for change.

You can:

connect with Equally Well in your country
join existing networks and collaborations
or help start a movement of your own country.