South African Psychiatry - charting a way forward

Abstract

South African Psychiatry witnessed a recent event, that by all accounts is unprecedented in low and middle income countries: a national mental health summit, this according to one of the speakers at the summit- Shaker Saxena, of the World Health Organization. South Africa is divided into 9 provinces and prior to the national summit, provincial summits were held in order to identify issues and develop position statements for the national summit i.e. the process was systematic. Between these various summits, the South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) convened a special meeting of state employed psychiatrists to consider a range of matters relevant to psychiatric practise in the state sector ‐ this in order to not only inform the national summit but to provide input into the National Mental Health Policy which is currently work in progress, and represents the development of a policy for mental health that will be officially endorsed. In essence, a series of events which speak to a collaborative approach to charting a way forward for South African