MENTAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT: - libdoc.who.int - World ...

Supportingstatements
response to mental health problems. Advocacy that brings visibility to mental
health issues will help combat stigma and discrimination. Both political attention
and advocacy can reverse the amount of suffering that we experience.
A very sincere thanks to WHO and all its collaborators, who through this accurate
diagnosis of the situation echo our simple demand for justice, and encourage us
to make our voices heard and to have hope. It is time that those concerned adopt
and implement the recommendations made in this important report in order to
bring about much needed change.
The Hon. Bob McMullan, MP, Parliamentary Secretary
for International Development Assistance, Australian
Government
Mental illness is common in all countries. Treatment and care is complex and
community attitudes and stigma surrounding mental illness take time to change.
Australia is committed to reducing poverty and achieving sustainable development
in developing countries, and improving responses to people with mental
illness is an important building block towards achieving this.
I welcome this important WHO report: it is a timely reminder of how governments
and development partners need to give mental health a higher priority. Like
WHO, Australia works closely with partner governments to improve health outcomes
based on robust national health plans. These plans are an indication of how
governments prioritize mental health, how they will respond and what support
they require from development agencies.
Australia is committed to showing leadership in international and regional cooperation
to promote disability-inclusive development. Our strategy Development
for All* focuses on improving the quality of life of children, women and men with
all forms of disability. It includes building the capacity of Disabled People’s Organizations,
and assisting partner countries – particularly those in Asia and the Pacific
– to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Unless
the needs of people with disability, including those with mental illness, are met, it
will not be possible to achieve the targets of the Millennium Development Goals
by 2015.
* Development for All. Towards a disability-inclusive Australian aid program 2009–2014. Canberra,
Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), November 2008.
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