Introduction
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1
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The scaling-up of evidence-based treatment packages, for people with mental disorders
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This can be done gradually over ten years. Initial investment in community treatment facilities is needed. Annual investment will need to rise gradually as programmes are rolled out.
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Scaling up of mental health services in all regions, aiming to reduce the treatment gap to levels achieved in high income countries.
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This will add around $2 per capita per year to the health budget of low income countries, and $3-4 per capita per year in middle income countries which is affordable in the context of other proposed or adopted packages, e.g. the rolling out of ART for HIV/ AIDS.
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2
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A new commitment to protect the human rights of people with mental disorders
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Progressive mental health legislation needs to be enacted in countries that lack such legislation, and updated in the many countries where mental health laws were developed before the introduction of international standards.
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Relevant UN charters (United Nations Resolution 46/119. The protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of mental health care; Declaration of Human Rights; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; Convention on the Rights of the Child) apply to people with mental disorders as well. These need to be backed up by legislation and observed in practice.
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| • | The principle of adopting the least restrictive treatment practice possible must be applied universally. | |
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3
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Monitoring progress of countries in achieving the goals of scaling up, based on a series of 5 ‘core’ and 6 ‘secondary’ indicators.
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4
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Investment in a programme of research to support these developments
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funding should concentrate on research to address the evidence gap in low and middle income countries – 87% of all trials of mental health interventions were carried out in high income countries, only 1% in low income countries.
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Key research priorities are to develop and assess mental health interventions that do not need to be delivered by mental health professionals and research to assess how health systems can scale up such feasible and effective interventions across all routine-care settings.
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| How can these calls for action be implemented? The Call for Action proposes a series of strategies to overcome barriers to scaling up, and the actions needed by specific groups of stakeholders to overcome these barriers. | ||
