Mental health in post-2015 development agenda World leaders have called for support for a global movement to address a mental health challenge: suicide. Mental health leaders and advocates gathered in Geneva, Switzerland this past week where the “Preventing Suicide, A Global Imperative “report was released by the World Health Organisation to discuss the Global Mental Health Action Plan adopted by the United Nations 66th assembly last year. Leaders joined to form a new group known as FundaMentalSDG to seek clear, measurable mental health targets to the United Nations Post Millennium 2015 development goals. This is coming on the heels of the planned negotiation by the UN member-states, following the UN high-level stocktaking event on the post-2015 development agenda in New York between September 11 and 12, 2014. The inauguration of the FundaMentalSDG group took place so that world leaders can collaborate on multi-sectoral approach to elevate the work in mental health. The Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Dr. Shekhar Saxena, states in the Global Suicide Report: “This report, the first WHO publication of its kind, presents a comprehensive overview of suicide, suicide attempts and successful suicide prevention efforts worldwide. We know what works. Now is the time to act”. The July 19, 2014 UN draft of the post-millennium goals includes an overall health goal: ‘Proposed goal 3 as ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages’. A recent editorial in the British Medical Journal by professors Graham Thornicroft, and Vikram Patel, of the King’s College London, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine respectively, calls upon colleagues worldwide to include within this health goal; the following specific mental illness target: The provision of mental and physical health and social care services for people with mental disorders, in parity with resources for services addressing physical health. They also proposed that this is directly supported by two indicators related to the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020, adding that it is very difficult to achieve results without specific measurements. (2) To ensure that service coverage for people with severe mental disorders in each country will have increased to 20 per cent by 2020, including a community-orientated package of interventions for people with psychosis, bipolar affective disorder; or moderate-severe depression. (3) To increase the amount invested in mental health by 100 per cent by 2020 in each low and middle-income country. The FundaMentalSDG group is an initiative, which aims to include a specific mental health target in the post-2015 SDG agenda. The initiative is committed to the principle that there can be no health without mental health and no sustainable development without including mental health into the post-2015 SDG agenda. This initiative is led by the Steering Group, comprising leaders in global mental health, drawn from a wide range of service and research organisations. Nigeria has been a beneficiary of the MhGap programme of the WHO specifically designed to bridge the gap in the status and needs of mental health in low-income countries. Our renowned psychiatrist, Prof. Oye Gureje, who is one of the members of this new initiative, anchors this. Nigeria is a natural leader in Africa and consequently it has the resources capable of driving its programmes. All tiers of government, especially the federal and state governments should put policy framework in place in order to drive this initiative. Newspaper reports apart from cases reported to the police and hospitals in Nigeria have shown that suicide cases are on the increase despite the fact that many cases are not reported. This may be attributed partly to inadequate mental health care resources crucial in identifying cases early enough for treatment. This current initiative is looking beyond mental illness to engage crucial predisposing social economic factors, especially poverty. This opportunity of an initiative from the United Nations prescribes that for any reasonable government of middle and low-income countries, such as Nigeria will articulate mental health as a crucial template for achieving the millennium development goals as a prerequisite for active participation in the sustainable development agenda after 2015. There is really no health without mental health and this explains its crucial benchmark in determining the social welfare status of the people. To support the initiative, visit ift.tt/1viA68S and take action today. Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: editor@punchng ift.tt/1viA7tr ift.tt/WWdWxr [[Boost your social presence with NAIRALIKES nairalikes ]] #nigeria x #nairalikes #vanguardng
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 00:04:40 +0000
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