Sixth meeting of the European national counterparts for the WHO European Mental Health Programme : report on a WHO meeting, Madrid, Spain 28-30 April 2003

Abstract

The Mental Health Programme of the WHO Regional Office for Europe has established a network of mental health professionals in the Member States, who have provided the necessary liaison between the Regional Adviser for Mental Health in the Regional Office and the mental health services in the countries. These national counterparts for mental health have been officially nominated by their ministries of health and are often working in the Ministry of Health or are the most senior government mental health professionals. The network meets twice yearly in a different location. In April 2003, the network met in Madrid, Spain, kindly hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Spain and the Ministry of Health of the Autonomous Region of Madrid. Counterparts from almost 30 countries of the Region took part at the meeting, as well as invited speakers, representatives of the Spanish central and regional health authorities, professionals and NGO representatives acting in the field of mental health. The programme included a session on the situation of mental health in Spain, with presentations of the main reform changes undergone or planned to be carried out, and with a following discussion and feedback from the counterparts. In the international network part, topics that were presented and discussed were mental health curricula harmonization, mental health economics, value-based mental health and the relation between neuropsychiatry and mental health. All the topics were addressed and debated with the background of the forthcoming WHO ministerial conference on mental health - Facing the challenges, building solutions, Helsinki, January 2005