Global council for mental health

The Mission

The mission of the Global Council for Mental Health will be to promote and support WHO policies and programmes aimed at reducing the huge numbers of people whose lives are afflicted by mental and substance abuse problems, and to promote better mental health.

The Objectives

• To bring together different constituencies with a real interest in promoting mental health, preventing and treating mental disorders, in order to reach a common vision of the problem starting from diverse perspectives;
• To stimulate and lend support to action aimed at raising awareness of the burden of the mental disorders, the interventions available to reduce it, and the pervasive effects of stigma and discrimination; and
• To promote the implementation of the Ten Recommendations of The World Health Report 2001 in all regions, and the adoption of the strategies put forth by the mental health Global Action Programme (mhGAP).

Operating Principles

The Global Council will represent an ongoing partnership of Working Groups of different stakeholders acting towards joint objectives based on equality and reciprocity. The administrative support to the Global Council will be provided by the WHO Secretariat under the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. The specific objectives will guide the Working Groups operating under the umbrella of the Global Council. These Working Groups are constituted by homogeneous constituencies, as listed henceforth:

• Parliamentarians
• Service Users
• Families of Service Users
• Professional Organizations
• Educators of Health Professionals
• Labour and Business Leaders
• Health Leaders
• Religious Leaders