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

4.2.2 Integrate mental health issues into broader health
policies, programmes, and partnerships
We must do more to integrate mental health awareness into all aspects
of health and social policy, health-system planning, and primary and
secondary general health care.
—United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon 183
Mental health issues have been omitted from broader health policy, programmes,
and partnerships in many countries. Omission from the general health agenda
perpetuates vertical systems of services and the development of separate mental
health policies and plans to address gaps in broader policy and plans. These separate
mental health policies, plans, and services often are not implemented because
their basic requirements are not included in the overall health strategy.
When providing support to countries, development stakeholders have important
roles in promoting mental health by highlighting issues of unmet need, vulnerability,
and human rights, and advocating inclusion of these issues in national health
policies and plans, and human resource development (see Box 7 for an example
from Belize). They also can support the integration of mental health issues into
global and multisectoral efforts, such as the International Health Partnership 184
the Global Health Workforce Alliance, 185 and the Health Metrics Network 186 as has
been the case with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The rights of persons with mental health conditions are addressed by the UN Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
4.Improvingdevelopmentoutcomes:principlesandactions
UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras
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