Being a strong voice for mental health parity, human rights, and community‐based psychiatric care in challenging times: developing the <scp>WPA</scp> Action Plan 2026‐2029
Authors: Thomas G. Schulze
Journal: World Psychiatry (2024)

The last decade has borne witness to WPA's steadfast and unwavering commitment to advancing psychiatry in every corner of the world. Demonstrating a great deal of professional resilience, all bodies of the WPA have delivered on this promise despite an ever more challenging global political landscape, natural disasters, massive refugee crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and economic downturns. The previous Action Plans of the triennia 2017-20201 and 2020-20232, 3, as well as the current one (2023-2026)4, 5, have skillfully and effectively addressed these challenges by developing programs geared towards people living in adversity, suffering from long-standing illnesses and psychosocial disabilities; by closely working with people with lived experience and their caregivers; by emphasizing sustainable developments as a prerequisite for total health; by supporting psychiatrists in their roles as policy makers, service providers, as well as trainers and supporters of health care workers; and finally, by implementing evidence-based therapies, prevention, and adoption of healthy lifestyles. Over the past six years, the WPA has implemented measures to swiftly communicate with its various bodies and tailor these initiatives to both the demands and opportunities of the 21st century. Guided by the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, the WPA has created resources to further activities for early career psychiatrists, focusing on colleagues in low- and middle-income countries6. WPA's activities, which are enriched by the active participation of patients and caregivers, are also supported by large publicly funded grants, boosting the educational and scientific mission of the association7, 8. It is against this backdrop that I am planning to build on and continue the core mission of the previous Actions Plans, i.e., consolidating psychiatry as an integral and indispensable part of medicine serving the most vulnerable around the globe. While triennial Action Plans may differ at the level of specific programs, I firmly believe that, in an ever more distressing world, the WPA must develop and promote a core set of goals. Looking back at my work with the WPA during the past decade, I would posit that three core goals have emerged: a) working towards mental health parity in all imaginable areas and at all levels; b) championing human rights as a moral foundation of our discipline; and c) building strong and lasting community-based psychiatric care. While one can formulate many more goals, I believe that these three aims capture the essence of what the WPA considers its paramount mission: advance psychiatry and mental health for people all over the world. Mental health parity has been a buzzword for many years9, 10. However, it is more than that. It is a constant reminder that our field must fight for the needs and rights of our patients, their families and caregivers, our colleagues, and institutions around the globe and around the clock. This leads us to the second goal: standing up for mental health parity means fighting for human rights. It is my goal that universal human rights guide WPA's activities and policies: wherever mental health and mental health care are threatened, through lack of education or hurtful policies; through unwarranted cuts to resources; through ethnic or religious persecution, or genocide11; or through threats to livelihoods due to natural disasters and climate change12, the WPA needs to be the voice to call for decisive action, creating and defending environments full of diversity and equity. Also, it is my sincere belief that we are called to action whenever and wherever psychiatry is abused by rogue political actors to suppress universal freedoms. Finally, all these actions need to start within the community. Working with all stakeholders, we need to reach out to where our expertise is needed, building sustainable and trust-based networks of care and education13. I will make sure that this outreach will be in lockstep with our Member Societies, whose ideas and input will be crucial for the success of this mission. To this end, we will also have to develop close partnerships with other organizations, while always being true to what we are: a medical discipline deeply rooted in science and guided by empathy towards those who seek our help. Developing a roadmap for these goals is not an easy task and needs many hands and minds. To this end, I am very grateful that I will be joined by a diverse group of highly esteemed colleagues from around the world who will be part of the 2023-2026 Standing Committee on Planning. They are (in alphabetical order): R.S. Abdelazim (Egypt), R.N. Córdoba Rojas (Colombia), M.Á. Cuéllar Hoppe (Paraguay), P. Falkai (Germany), C. Jatchavala (Thailand), M. Mimura (Japan), B. Oladeji (Nigeria), P.S. Sachdev (Australia), G. Saha (India), and L. Yatham (Canada). These renowned colleagues do not only represent a large part of WPA's regions, but hail from various sub-specialities of our discipline. They are educators, clinicians and/or researchers; leaders of national or international professional societies; or proponents of the WPA's Early Career Psychiatrists program. Working with all bodies of the WPA, the members of this Committee will support, advocate for, and continuously evaluate existing initiatives that have proven successful. Moving forward, they will support the President-Elect and the current Executive Committee in strengthening the WPA's leading global role in state-of-the-art, evidence-based, and empathy-driven global public mental health care, psychiatric practice, research, and education.