The WPA International Congress "Treatments in Psychiatry: AnUpdate"
Authors: Ahmed Okasha
Journal: World Psychiatry (2005)

The WPA, as a global association of associations, gains its strength not only from the good standing and probity of its leaders (e.g., Zonal Representatives, Chairs of Sections, Executive Committee, etc.), but particularly from the vigour of its 130 Member Societies. Admitting a new Member Society to the WPA is therefore a particularly strategic event. This is why the General Assembly formally admits a Society following detailed consideration by the Executive Committee and the Board.

In the past 12 months we have welcomed three new Member Societies: the Sri Lankan College of Psychiatry, the Palestinian Psychiatric Association and the Algerian Psychiatric Association. Each of these societies faces particular challenges with regard to the political environment in which they work, and the advancement of science and good practice within parts of the world where mental disorder is common and psychiatrists are few. The Sri Lankan College is boosted by its close links with its members working in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The leaders of the Palestinian Psychiatric Association have already been active in the search for reconciliation, working together with Israeli psychiatrists in a WPA Task Force. It is much to be hoped that the new member society from Algeria will encourage other societies in North and Western Africa to join the WPA. I have recently been in correspondence with psychiatrists in some West African countries which presently have no links with WPA and am working with the Zonal Representative (Prof. Olawatura) attempting to facilitate these key forms of professional association. The Secretariat has also received applications to join WPA from the Moldova Psychiatric Association and the Irish College of Psychiatrists.

It is a cardinal value of WPA that Member Societies influence and assist each other. The democratic structures and weighted voting mechanisms ensure that the work of the WPA cannot be dominated by the large Member Societies but that the institutional resources of these societies can facilitate establishing educational and scientific links with societies that are less well resourced. This exchange of ideas and personnel is therefore a key twoway process.

Those societies in countries with a substantial proportion of members working abroad (e.g., Indian and Pakistan Psychiatric Associations, American Psychiatric Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK) have a particular contribution to make by sustaining this two-way exchange of people, science and culture. It is much to be hoped that the links for example between the French speaking countries in Africa and elsewhere with Europe could be deliberately fostered. The larger societies with more resources are, I would suggest, recognising increasingly that they can be strengthened further by working for, and within, the WPA Sections, Operational Committees and scientific meetings. In so doing, they will enhance global psychiatry and international outreach that they cherish.

It is a strength of WPA that, through the work of its Review Committee and the General Assembly, a Member Society that fails to live up to the Madrid Declaration can, following due process, be admonished, suspended or even expelled. Since being in office I have been impressed by the attention to detail and due process of the Review Committee's work in this regard, and await the recommendations that will be brought to the General Assembly with regard to what I hope will be a constructive outcome to the alleged political abuse of psychiatry in China. Psychiatrists in China and elsewhere in the world, including my own country, are subjected to political influence, which can threaten the development of optimum mental health legislation, and make more difficult ensuring the human rights of psychiatric patients.