Global
Mental Health Crisis in Greece
Latest reports from the BBC on the appalling conditions in the Greek Mental Health System
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8124976.stm
We are informed by our international colleagues of the deteriorating situation and appalling conditions in the mental health services in Greece. After shocking revelations about the Leros Asylum were made public in the 1980’s the international outcry produced funding to reform the system from the European Union. Some hospitals closed and some community services developed. However over the past three years Government funding to these has slowed and stopped, staff are not being paid, the services can’t meet their expenses and the quality is deteriorating. The feared outcome is that the institutions will reopen.
In late January 2009 the European Union held a meeting to discuss the deteriorating situation in Greece the notes of that meeting make shocking reading from the relative comfort of New Zealand.
A blog translated into English provides detail of the situation. http://psi-action-en.blogspot.com/
England
New strategy to bolster mental health care - Radical plans to prioritise mental health – putting it on a par with the fight against obesity – will be launched this week by the English Government . For the first time, reducing the toll that mental illness takes on people and the public purse will become the responsibility of every government department.
Two international courses in the area of mental health
1. INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMA IN MENTAL HEALTH LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS
The International Diploma on Mental Health Law and Human Rights is currently accepting applications for the academic year 2010-11. The Diploma, now in its third year of existence, is a collaboration between WHO and the ILS Law College in Pune, India. The course builds the capacity of students to advocate for human rights and to influence national legislative and policy and service reform in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other key international human rights standards. It is a one year Diploma and includes two residential sessions and distance learning.
Students to date have comprised health and mental health professionals, lawyers, mental health service users/survivors, government officials, social workers, human rights defenders and families and carers. The course is taught be a faculty of renowned international experts in the area. The prospectus for the Diploma is attached. More information about the Diploma is also available at: www.mentalhealthlaw.in. Applications can be submitted online at: http://www.mentalhealthlaw.in/content/online-application (deadline 30 June 2010).
2. INTERNATIONAL MASTERS IN MENTAL HEALTH POLICY AND SERVICES
The International Master in Mental Health Policy and Services, promoted by the New University of Lisbon, in collaboration with WHO, is accepting applications for 2010-2011. The main scope of the Master Degree in International Mental Health Policy and Services (MHPS) is to build capacity of mental health professionals to lead and contribute to conceiving, formulating, implementing and evaluating:
National Mental Health Policy
National Mental Health Legislation
Mental Health Services and Care delivery.
The course will start on the 20th September 2010, with a two-week residential session, at the Faculdade de Ciências Médicas campus in Lisbon. A second two-week residential session will take place in Lisbon, from 4 to 16 April 2011. Between the two residential sessions, the students will participate in e-learning teaching activities under the orientation of supervisors. The second year of the Course will be dedicated to the development of a project and the elaboration of the dissertation, under the orientation of a supervisor. More information about the Course can be found at the site: http://www.fcm.unl.pt/immhps/
Dr Michelle Funk
Coordinator
Mental Health Policy and Service Development (MHP)
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
World Health Organization
20 Avenue Appia
CH-1211 Genève 27
Switzerland
Tel: +41-22 791 3855
Email: funkm "at" who.int