Objective
In the context of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda and also WHO’s triple billion goals focused on maximizing country impact as well as coordinated global leadership, a Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use (STAG-MNS) has been established to advise the WHO Director-General on matters relating to mental health, neurological disorders, substance use and addictive behaviours. The STAG-MNS will support WHO’s leading role in advancing SDG 2030 health-related targets, especially targets 3.4 and 3.5 focused on promoting mental health and wellbeing and strengthening the prevention and treatment of substance abuse.
Functions
In its advisory capacity to the Director-General, the STAG-MNS will fulfill the following functions related to mental health, brain health, substance use and addictive behaviours:
- To identify and describe current and future challenges;
- To advise WHO on strategic directions to be prioritized;
- To advise WHO on the development of global strategic documents; and
- To propose other strategic interventions and activities for implementation by WHO.
Composition
The STAG-MNS is designed to be multidisciplinary, with members spanning a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to mental health, brain health and neurology and substance use. Accordingly, expressions of interest were sought from individuals with substantial, high-level expertise and experience (including those with lived experience of an MNS condition) in the following areas: Strategic direction, intersectoral coordination and programme management of public health aspects of MNS services at national level (policy, planning and leadership); Innovation in and/or integration of MNS service delivery and organization at the programmatic or sectoral level; Comparative epidemiology of MNS conditions (trends, future projections); Measurement, monitoring and surveillance of MNS service outputs and outcomes; Strategic advocacy, partnership promotion and making the case for MNS conditions; Ethics, equity, human rights and gender in the context of MNS health services. The final set of twenty selected STAG-MNS members are listed below, who serve in their personal capacities and have been appointed for a period of two years.
Safeguarding WHO against conflicts of interests
STAG-MNS members must respect the impartiality and independence required of WHO. In performing their work, members may not seek or accept instructions from any Government or from any authority external to the Organization. They must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, the members have completed a declaration of interests form and their appointment has been subject to the evaluation of completed forms by the WHO Secretariat, determining that their participation will not give rise to a real, potential or apparent conflict of interest. STAG-MNS members have an ongoing obligation to inform the WHO of any interests real or perceived that may give raise to a real, potential or apparent conflict of interest, and WHO may request STAG-MNS members to complete a new declaration of interest form.
Members
Vinciane Quoidbach
Public Health and Policy, Research Project Manager, European Brain Council (EBC)
Chris Cull
Founder, Inspire by Example; Filmmaker; Healthcare Worker; Mental Health and Addictions Advocate and Speaker
Mary O'Hagan
Director Lived Experience, Wellways Australia
Sankhulani Daka
Advocate for PWLE, pharmacist and counsellor
Ernesto Isaac Lara
Research Assistant, Mental Health for All Lab, Harvard Medical School
Claudia Braga
Professor and researcher, Universtity of Sao Paolo
Head, National Mental Health Programme, Ministry of Health, Lebanon
Manasi Kumar
Professor, Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine
Lewis Arthurton
Head of Communications and Policy at Alzheimer Disease International
Murali Thyloth
Professor of Psychiatry, The Oxford Medical College Hospital., Bengaluru , India. Past president. WAPR.
Director, Center for Genomic and Precision Medicine, University of Ibadan
Yuri Licinio Cutipé Cárdenas
Researcher, National Institute of Mental Health Honorio Delgado Hideyo Noguchi of Ministry of Health of Perú
Mansour Bader
Clinical Psychiatrist and Addiction Treatment Doctor
Bibilola Oladeji
Reader/ Consultant Psychiatrist College of Medicine, University of Ibadan/ University College Hospital Ibadan
Lai Fong Chan
Professor of Psychiatry & Suicide Prevention and Senior Consultant Psychiatrist
Professor, Faculty of Public Health, VNU University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-UMP)
Vesna Švab
Professor of medicine and psychiatrist, University of Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine
Min Zhao
President of Shanghai Mental Health Center, and Director of National Center for Mental Health
Pubudu Sumanasekara
Vice President, Movendi International
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