WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health Harry Minas School of Population Health The WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health: Department of Psychiatry, School of Population Health Co-Directors: Helen Herrman & Harry Minas Broad areas of focus in the CC s work program include: Mental health promotion (including work on the WHO-QOL) Mental health system development, focusing on development of community-based mental health services Transcultural mental health 1
Lancet Series on Global Mental Health 6 Papers 1. No health without mental health 2. Scarcity, inequity and insufficiency of resources: three major obstacles to better mental health 3. Treating mental disorders in low- and middleincome countries: Do we have the evidence to scale up? 4. Mental health systems in countries: where are we now? 5. Barriers to improving mental health services in low and middle income countries 6. A call for action for global mental health 8 Commentaries Australian launch of the series hosted by the CIMH and NIGH 4 October 2007 Yasuko Hiraoko Room, Myer Asia Centre Key Messages from the Lancet Series Mental health is a neglected aspect of human wellbeing, which is intimately connected with many other conditions of global health importance. Resources for mental health are inadequate and inequitably distributed. There is already a strong evidence base on which to scale up mental health services. Most low-income and middle-income countries currently devote far too few resources to mental health. There are critical lessons to learn from past successes and failures, for: political leadership and priority setting increasing financial support decentralising mental health services integrating mental health into primary care increasing health workers trained in mental health, and strengthening public health perspectives in mental health. Any call to action demands a clear set of indicators to measure progress at country level. During the next 2 years, The Lancet will make mental health one of its campaign focal points. We urge partners to join the broad new social movement we are launching to strengthen mental health. Richard Horton, Editor, The Lancet 2
Lancet Series Goals Place mental health on the public health priority agenda Improve organisation of mental health services Integrate the availability of mental health in general health care Develop human resources for mental health Strengthen public mental health leadership Examples of work of the WHO Collaborating Centre that contribute to these goals Promoting Mental Health WHO VicHealth University of Melbourne 3
Community mental health system development Work, and collaborations, in: South-Eastern Europe: (Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia) Asia: (Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam, Pacific: (Samoa) Most of this work has been carried out at the request of - or in close collaboration with - WHO country and regional offices and WHO Headquarters Community mental health system development Disaster to Development: Aceh and Sri Lanka Vietnam China In both settings key partners are national Ministries of Health, Provincial Health Offices and, locally, District Health Offices and primary health centres Developing community mental health services where there were none before disaster Substantial success in both settings Variety of sources of funding over time, now predominantly from World Vision Australia Collaborations with WHO and other international agencies (e.g. Unicef, IOM) and local and international NGOs Contributing to development of the national approach to community mental health service delivery Partners include: Ministry of Health, WHO Country Office, Research and Training Centre for Community Development, Hanoi Contributing to the China project of 60 community mental health demonstration sites in 30 provinces 4
Leadership for mental health system development Melbourne-Harvard International Mental Health Leadership Program Now in its 6th year: More than 100 psychiatrists and other mental health professionals from 18 countries and territories 2007: Class of 30 students undertaking all or part of a 4-week intensive seminar focusing on: Global mental health Policy development Mental health service design Mental health systems research Annual International Mental Health System Development Conference Melbourne (2002); Beijing (2003) ; Hong Kong (2004); Melbourne (2005); Taipei (2007); Hanoi (2008) Master of International Mental Health First graduate program of its kind 13 MPH students taking one or more MIMH subjects POST Program (SVH) and AAMH Specialist clinical training for mental health professionals from Asia Delegations from, and agreements, with Asian countries Capacity for Assessment of MH Systems Participation in the preparation of a training program for planning and carrying out a country-level mental health system assessment using WHO-AIMS Will assist research teams in countries to carry out detailed and rigorous assessments of their own mental health systems 5
Fostering Mental Health System Research INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEMS Commenced publication in August 2007 www.ijmhs.com Publisher: Biomed Central London Peer-reviewed, open access journal IJMHS publishes papers on all aspects of mental health system development and reform Particular emphasis on fostering and publishing mental health system research from low- and middle-income countries Editor-in-Chief: Harry Minas, CIMH Melbourne Deputy Editor: Alex Cohen, Harvard Medical School Managing Editor: Sudipto Chatterjee, Sangath Centre, Goa, India Distinguished Editorial Board from all world regions Need for sustained commitment Lhok Nga district, Banda Aceh 6