The WPA Action Plan 2014-2017
Authors: Dinesh Bhugra
Journal: World Psychiatry (2014)

The activity of the WPA during the triennium of my presidency will be guided by an Action Plan which follows the objectives of the Association. These objectives include: to increase knowledge and skills about mental disorders and how they can be prevented and treated; to promote mental health; to promote the highest possible ethical standards in psychiatric work; to disseminate knowledge about evidence-based therapy and values based practice; to be a voice for the dignity and human rights of the patients and their families, and to uphold the rights of psychiatrists and to facilitate communication and assistance especially to societies who are isolated or whose members work in impoverished circumstances. The Action Plan, which has been approved by the WPA General Assembly during the World Congress of Psychiatry held in Madrid last September, focuses specifically on two objectives – to prevent mental disorders and to promote mental health – while also pursuing the remaining objectives of better care by providing knowledge and skills for psychiatrists. As a preliminary communication, I am sharing my vision with the readers of World Psychiatry. A key principle is that we learn from each other and share good clinical and academic practice. The first objective of the Action Plan is to prevent mental disorders. There is considerable evidence in the literature that nearly three quarters of mental illness in adulthood start before the age of 24 years and also that many conditions can be prevented or delayed in their onset. It has also been shown that certain factors contribute to the onset and perpetuation of mental illness, and that some of these factors are already active before a child is born. Bearing in mind cultural and resource variations under this broad objective of the WPA, outcomes on four key themes will be delivered: gender based interpersonal violence; child sexual, emotional and physical abuse; prisoner mental health care; mental health of the groups who are most vulnerable, including the elderly, refugees and asylum seekers, people with learning disability, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. Under the second aim of promoting mental health, materials will be prepared with clear plans and campaigns to deliver messages across life span and across communities. The above five “pillars” will also have horizontal crossings which are related to the matrix. For example, gender will play an important role across all pillars. Similarly, children and the elderly will also be considered across all columns. The outcomes will be on four levels: materials for undergraduate curriculum, materials for postgraduate curriculum, materials for continuing professional development (continuing medical education) and policy documents. Curricula will be developed in a standardized format, so that member organizations and other interested parties can access them and modify them according to their needs and resources. Task force groups will be set up to deliver all of these, and members of the WPA Executive Committee have agreed to take on specific responsibility for one or more of these tasks. Early career psychiatrists are the future of psychiatry and will be involved at all levels. Every effort will be made to engage trainees and medical students so that the brightest individuals are not only attracted to psychiatry but also retained in the field. In addition, virtual hubs will be established which can be accessed to retrieve policy documents, research papers and links, and clinical advice. The WPA has produced various educational materials and it is proposed to develop and build on these so that psychiatrists and other mental health professionals as well as patients and their families can access them. These hubs will be closely linked with member organizations so that their needs can be assessed and materials provided accordingly. Selected organizations will host these hubs. These hubs will also be linked with key WPA collaborating centres which will be established based on strict criteria as approved by the Executive Committee. These centres will provide materials for training, research and policy development and will lead on identifying significant materials for translation if needed and further dissemination. In addition, training materials will be produced and placed in public domains. An arm's length body created for education will deliver educational materials at all levels including assessment tools. Additional tasks will include updating the WPA website and making it more user friendly with repository of policy documents from all member organizations and teaching and training materials for psychiatrists at all ages of practice and across different psychiatric specialties, along with patient/carer/family information leaflets on different psychiatric conditions. Furthermore, policy documents across different languages will be available in key languages including English. We also aim to translate various texts from other languages into English so that there is a fair exchange of ideas, information and knowledge. Readers of World Psychiatry who are interested in being informed or wish to contribute to the above initiatives are welcome to contact the WPA Secretariat ([email protected]) or me directly through the WPA website.