Paro, Bhutan | 6 September 2022
To promote mental health in
the Region, Member countries of WHO South-East Asia Region today adopted the
Paro Declaration committing to Universal Access to People-centered Mental
Health Care and Services.
“There is no health without mental health. Increasing investments in mental
health, including for preventive and promotive services at the primary care
level, reduces treatment costs and increases productivity, employment and
quality of life,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East
Asia Region.
The Paro Declaration was adopted at the Ministerial Roundtable on addressing
mental health through primary care and community engagement on day two of the
ongoing Seventy-Fifth Session of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Committee
Session.
“The Declaration urges Member countries to develop and implement multisectoral
policies across the life-course to address mental health risks and reduce
treatment gaps exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that mental
health services reach all those in need, close to where they live, without
financial hardship,” the Regional Director said.
As part of the Declaration, Member countries agreed to develop country-specific
targets to achieve universal primary care-oriented mental health services and
mainstream mental health in policy planning, implementation, and evaluation.
The Paro Declaration also calls for increased funding for community-based
mental health networks and continuous supply of medicines and rehabilitation,
including occupational therapy for everyone who needed them, and strengthening
of data gathering and reporting, implementation research and performance
monitoring, to ensure context-sensitive improvement of mental health systems.
Around 1 in 7 people live with a mental health condition in the South-East Asia
Region. The personal and economic distress and disruptions caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic have widened the gaps in addressing mental health challenges,
which include scarcity of human resources, low investment, stigma, inadequate
prevention and promotion programmes, paucity of data, and lack of services in
primary care settings.
The Declaration calls for ensuring an effective and comprehensive response to
the mental health needs by establishing evidence-based and rights-oriented
community mental health networks, and systematically planning for the
deinstitutionalization of care for people with severe mental disorders.
Member countries committed to prioritizing fiscal space for health and
universal health coverage, secure adequate investment for mental health
services at the primary and secondary level, and mobilizing required additional
resources in partnership with local and international stakeholders.
Strengthening capacity of primary health care system is the foundation for
provision of mental health services and progress towards UHC, the
health-related Sustainable Development Goals and the targets of WHO
Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030. Member countries committed
to expanding specialized and non-specialized mental health workforce by
identifying new cadres of health-care personnel who are especially trained,
equipped and skilled for the delivery of mental health services at the primary
care level and work as part of multidisciplinary teams within the
health sector.
Community empowerment and active engagement of people with lived experience
helps reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental disorders,
family members and caregivers.
Strengthening national and subnational level prevention and promotion
programmes helps achieve the well-being of all by addressing suicide and
self-harm, substance use, consumption of harmful digital entertainment,
bullying and parenting issues. Member countries committed to lead the
multisectoral mental health response by guiding and harmonizing the social,
education, development and economic sectors to address determinants of mental
health, such as poverty, lack of education, social isolation, emergencies and
impact of climate change and set country-specific targets to achieve universal
primary care-oriented mental health services.
Several Member countries in the Region have already taken action to strengthen
policies, plans, laws and services to improve the mental health of populations.
Replicating and scaling up successful models and innovative interventions,
harnessing digital technologies and telemedicine to improve access to services
and capacity-building of health-care workers, and using evidence and data for
programme improvement will help make the Region withstand future mental health
impacts exacerbated by humanitarian emergencies, climate change and economic
downturns.
WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia has promulgated several important
resolutions related to mental health. These include alcohol consumption control
– policy options; noncommunicable diseases, mental health and neurological
disorders; comprehensive and coordinated efforts for the management of autism
spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities; and SEA Regional Action Plan
to implement the Global Strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol.
WHO will continue to support in strengthening countries in reorienting primary
care for mental health through task-sharing; capacity-building for mental
health and psychosocial support during emergencies, and establishing a regional
knowledge and training hub for coordinating evidence and data generation,
prioritizing areas of research and facilitating exchange of experiences, based
on identified needs.