Mental health summit - Voices of people with lived experience in the WHO South-East Asia Region

Overview

On 19 and 20 June 2024 the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for South-East Asia organized a meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal entitled “Mental health summit: voices of people with lived experience in the WHO South-East Asia Region”. The 10 Member States of the WHO South-East Asia Region that participated in the summit were Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. The meeting engaged people with lived experience of mental health conditions and caregivers.

Meeting objectives

• Share perspectives on the rights of people with lived experience, including access to health care, employment opportunities, housing and education.
• Promote policy reforms that protect the rights of people with mental health conditions by identifying existing gaps in health care, employment, housing, and education, and identify opportunities for reform.
• Provide a platform for people with mental health conditions to share their experiences, challenges and solutions through panel discussions and testimonials at a side event.
• Establish a regional dialogue on the engagement and empowerment of people with lived experience as per the commitments made by Member States in the Paro Declaration (1).
• Draft a charter to protect the rights of people with lived experience, which can be modified and adopted at the country level.