World Mental Health Day 2008
World Mental Health Day 2008 had as its theme “Making Mental Health a Global Priority: Scaling Up Services Through Citizen Advocacy and Action.” The event was observed at a high level internationally. The Secretary General of the United Nations released a message for the Day.
The World Health Organization launched a new Mental Health Gap Action Program to draw attention to the need to scale up care for people with mental illnesses, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The Pan American Health Organization, in its capacity as the WHO Regional Office for the Americas, launched a Regional Mental Health Gap Action Program for the Americas at a symposium at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. WFMH Secretary General/CEO Preston J. Garrison, Treasurer Charles Ray, and World Mental Health Day coordinator Deborah Maguire participated. In New York the UN Department of Public Information/NGO Relations arranged a three-hour program in UN Headquarters in collaboration with the NGO Committee on Mental Health. More than 200 people were present. Nancy Wallace, WFMH Main Representative at the UN and former chair of the NGO Committee, helped to organize the program and gave the opening remarks. Similar formal events were arranged at venues around the world, and there were also many less formal activities that spread messages for public mental health education in a different way. Among the latter were the programs arranged by the Agrawal Neuro Psychiatry Centre in Kota, Rajasthan,India, where a parade of vehicles
carrying mental health slogans through town on 10 October featured some 50 cars, several buses,
Elephants in the World Mental Health Day Parade held in Kota, Rajasthan, India
Many motor cyclists, various tractors and horse-drawn carts – and two elephants. Elsewhere in Kota a large yellow helium balloon with World Mental Health Day on it was released at a fair during a rally of 300 boy scouts. Tethered to the ground, it flew there for ten days, visible to all attending the fair. In Cape Town, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group and other mental health organizations took advocacy to Parliament on 10 October. They set up colorful stands in the three main Parliament office buildings with banners, balloons and posters, and handed out information brochures to Members of Parliament and their staffs. A major goal was to educate the Members of Parliament about budget needs (“More Money for Mental Health”). Many people also stopped to discuss personal mental health problems or those affecting friends or family members. Deborah Maguire, the coordinator of World Mental Health Day, received additional early reports from Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, India (Kottayam and New Delhi), Indonesia (East Java), Liberia, Malaysia (a public awareness walk with 1,500 participants), Martinique, Pakistan,Singapore, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Tunisia
.WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY • 10 OCTOBER 2008
Making Mental Health a Global Priority
INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY
EXAMPLES OF ADVOCACY IN ACTION
RICHARD C. HUNTER WMHD AWARDWINNERS
As part of theWorld Mental Health Day campaign, WFMH selects the annual recipients of the Richard C. HunterWMHDay Award. Richard C. Hunter, Deputy Secretary General ofWFMH from 1983 through 2002, envisionedWorld Mental Health Day as a global and unified effort to promote greater public awareness and understanding of mental health and mental illness. All organizations and individuals are invited to submit applications for this award. Recipients in the past three years are highlighted below. Additional information is available on theWFMH website: http://www.wfmh.com/ 00WorldMentalHealthDay.htm.
2006 – Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia, the Administration for Mental Health and Social Services. Dr. Abdulhameed Abdulla Al-Habeed, M.D. reported that they used the materials in the 2006 packet “Building Awareness: Reducing Risks: Mental Illness and Suicide” to hold an exhibition, organize a symposium, publish pamphlets, contribute articles for the media, present lectures and presentations, and initiate research projects. They believe that hundreds of thousands of individuals were reached by the media, as well as all professional psychiatric colleagues, social workers, psychologists and nurses in the Kingdom. It is
believed that the major outcomes of these efforts included an increase in public awareness about mental disorders and the connections to suicidal attempts and suicide; increased awareness of the availability of assistance offered by the health delivery facilities and reduced stigma against mental disabilities.
2005 – Agrawal Neuro Psychiatry Centre, Kota, India. The theme of the 005World Mental Health Day, “Mental and Physical Health across the Life Span,” was commemorated with a multitude of activities organized by the Agrawal Neuro Psychiatry Centre. Thousands of letters were posted on September 5 to officials of the Rotary International encouraging them to celebrate this special week of 2-10 October. On October 2, a huge mental and physical health camp was organized at Begu City, marked by banners containing theWorld Mental Health Day campaign theme. Over 1000 individuals benefited from visiting the different specialists at the camp and medications were distributed for free. October 3 was the day of a seminar organized at the Central Jail in Kota
where over 500 jail residents heard Dr. M.L. Agrawal and Sant Shri Ramanand Saraswati address the issues of drugs and crime. On October 4, a major rally took place through the streets of the city with theWFMH’s theme for 2005 on a tractor trolley. On October 5, Dr. Agrawal addressed a gathering of 200 students 6-12 years old at the Government Girls Secondary School in Kota, followed the next day by a similar presentation for 250 girls at the Government Girls School in Talwandi. Another lecture was presented to the Rotary Club on October 7 with additional presentations and discussions at an old age home “Ashraya” in Kota. October 10 was the day of a huge rally on mental health organized in collaboration with the Innerwheel Club in Kota, with participation of approximately 500 school children. A full day of activities took place into the evening with many speakers addressing the topic ofmental and physical health – which kicks off the year-long community-based educational programs with the involvement of all NGOs.
