Itchy Skin and Mental Health: Why Skin Health Deserves Global Advocacy

Itchy Skin and Mental Health: Why Skin Health Deserves Global Advocacy

Thomas Boakye, 2025-26 Iowa UNA College Ambassador from Iowa State University

The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25) establishes a human right to an adequate standard of living necessary for health and well-being. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights codifies a human right to health. In global discussion of health as a human right, much focus is often placed on prominent issues like communicable diseases, mental, and reproductive health. Health challenges related to skin health has not typically been prioritized, but the international community needs to engage in more advocacy on skin health.

Limited Prioritization of Itchy Skin Conditions

Skin health is largely underrecognized or rarely prioritized compared to mental health or reproductive health in general. Skin health is usually considered a minor physical discomfort that may persist across dermatological conditions. Popular among skin health conditions is pruritus, which is medically defined to capture a sensation that leads to the desire to scratch one’s skin. When such a condition persists for six weeks or more, it is called chronic pruritus. The generalization of itchy skin conditions and the limited prioritization of skin health can have more profound ramifications than they plainly seem. Especially at their chronic stages, itchy skin can impair sleep, reduce human productivity, and cause social withdrawal for patients who may not be comfortable in public. It may lead to open stigmatization that can influence an individual's right to association and well-being. Conditions like chronic pruritus, cholinergic urticaria, or eczema may lead to critical mental health conditions.

Mental Health Connection to Itchy Skin

A nexus between itchy skin and mental health is usually described as a psychodermatological loop. The connection between the two has biological and psychological links that establish a meaningful relation between the conditions. It is highly proven that itch does not happen in isolation but as an interaction with the nervous system, emotional cycle, and social life. The persistent discomfort and unpredictability that accompany itchy skin issues usually place its victims under depression and anxiety compared to people without such skin issues. In cases where skin symptoms each happen in wee hours of the night, victims cannot get enough sleep or rest. The complication of sleep and the inability to wake is strongly associated with poor concentration of the victim’s memory problems. In situations where the victims are students, it may translate into poor academic concentration and performance. In worse situations where constant itch and scratch lead to dire physical discomfort, they may degenerate into apparent skin damage. In such instances, victims may face social stigma and resort to isolation. Such consequences generally affect the quality of life and the general well-being. 

Alignment with UN SDGs

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals do not specifically capture skin health as one of its goals. Nevertheless, it is generally captured under SDG 3 and can be linked to several SDGs. Under SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), skin itching affects good health and well-being. Skin itch conditions affect mental, emotional, and physical health. Due to the limited prioritization of skin health, there is an increase in the vulnerable population, as victims are usually underdiagnosed. This aligns with SDG 10 (reduced Inequalities), which aims to reduce inequalities among us. In situations where victims are students, itchy skin conditions generally affect their quality of education (SDG 4) as they may struggle to concentrate or keep up with their academics. Similar connections can be created among adults with conditions that may affect their productivity and economic growth (SDG 8).

Why Skin Health Advocacy Matters to the Iowa-UNA

It is clearly established that skin health is one of the global health issues that is limitedly prioritized compared to other health areas like reproductive health or climate action. For the Iowa -UNA, advocacy is broadly concentrated on global causes and making them local and closer. As such, itchy skin and skin health in general deserve to be elevated like other health conditions or global causes. Advocacy for global attention to skin health would represent the voice of the unseen and underrepresented. Just as the introduction of mental health campaigns and breast cancer awareness helped shift attention from “just being sad” to recognizing depression as a legitimate health condition, Iowa-UNA can champion efforts to show that itchy skin and skin health are “just not itch” or “just physical discomfort”. Such conditions have critical ripple effects on the quality of life of their victims, affecting their education and reducing productivity.

A campaign for Itchy Skin Awareness Day could become a precedent to other states in the United States and could be a way local advocacy can directly influence global frameworks. It could inform the formal recognition of itchy skin and skin health under the UN goals of dignity, equality, and human rights, as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25) endorses. An advocacy would support prompt treatment and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Goals. Such advocacies help prioritize skin health as family-centered, nonpartisan issues that can be considered in Congress. It offers an exclusive opportunity to unite the political divide and bridge the gap between Iowa and the world.