WPA launches first ever global campaign to achieve fairness in mental healthcare

The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) is today launching the first ever 'World Mind Matters Day', a global campaign with the main goal of achieving fairness in mental healthcare for all. The campaign aims to achieve a FAIR DEAL in mental healthcare across the world and focuses on the following priorities:

• Fairness and equity in funding, resources, outcomes and research
• Accessibility to effective services
• Integrating physical and mental health
• Reducing discrimination and stigma
• Dignity and equality for all
• Education of public and stakeholders
• Alliances and advocacy with patients and carers
• Links with organisations and across specialities

The mission of WPA is to promote the advancement of psychiatry and mental health for people across the world and the goal of this global initiative is to raise awareness of the eight FAIR DEAL priorities through key project delivery, involving global psychiatrists, family doctors, patients, carers and policy makers.

To mark the launch of the 'World Mind Matters' Day and with the aim of achieving the eight FAIR DEAL priorities, the WPA have today published two position papers:

• A statement on social justice in mental healthcare to help key national and international organisations and mental healthcare providers to recognise discrimination and social exclusion faced by persons with mental illness. It also addresses mental illness as a matter of immediate priority and ways to improve social justice for people with mental illness.
• Findings from the WPA's 'Working Group on Migrant, Refugee and Asylum Seeker Mental Health Patients' that provide guidance on ensuring the inclusion of cultural psychiatry and psychotherapy as part of an educational curricula at undergraduate level. It also outlines the recommendations to support service providers, policy makers and mental health professionals to address the different needs of the patients they are responsible for.

Commenting on the launch of World Mind Matters Day, Professor Dinesh Bhugra President, World Psychiatric Association said: "We are really proud to be launching the first campaign 'World Mind Matters' Day aiming for equity, fairness and social justice for the mentally ill. We hope to increase the knowledge and skills necessary to work effectively in the field of mental health and improve access to and the quality of mental health care across the world."

'World Mind Matters Day' will become an annual event thereafter. For more information about the campaign visit: http://www.wpanet.org/WMMD.