Highest Possible Level Of Health Research Articles

APPRENTICES TRAINING FOR INDEPENDENT WORK IN HEALTH CARE INSTITUTIONS

Background: The plan and program of apprenticeship for nurses, among other things, stipulate that the apprenticeship aims to introduce to the nurse the essence of healthcare, complement the knowledge acquired during schooling, and enable independent work after passing the professional exam. The apprenticeship program fundamentally complements the knowledge acquired in school institutions as well as the basics of the health care process. During the apprenticeship, the apprentices can determine and complement, and through practical work, train themselves for independent work with healthy and diseased people, family, and the social community, with the aim of achieving the highest possible level of health and independence in work. Aim: Perceiving of methodical approach of apprentice training for independent work in health care institutions, Methods: The observational indirect method was used in the research. The working method for data collection in this research was a survey. Two surveys were included in the research: for employed nurses and apprentices in health care institutions. The sample was 50 nurses and 50 apprentices, as random samples. In order to obtain realistic research results as much as possible, the respondents were from six different hospital institutions in Serbia. Results: Based on the goal and tasks of the research, the results of the survey showed that, on the national level, it is not specified who can train apprentices, the issue of organized training in healthcare institutions that train apprentices to do independent work, and the evaluation of acquired knowledge and apprentices’ skills. In healthcare institutions, the organized training of apprentices exists in a very small percentage. Apprenticeship training, at the largest percentage, is performed by nurses with many years of working experience. Mentors are not recognized as someone in charge of apprentices training for independent work. The satisfaction of apprentices with the training provided during the apprenticeship is not at an enviable level. Due to a lack of confidence in the quality of apprentices training, they undergo additional training after employment. Conclusion: Improving the process of apprenticeship training in the form of establishing standards, defining the conditions for apprentices training in health care institutions, evaluating training, defining the conditions for the health care institution itself that trains apprentices for independent work, recognizing the role of nurse mentors, and establishing the conditions for their mentoring are the basics for increasing the quality of the provided health care, faster independence in the work of newly employed nurses, and increased safety of patients in inpatient health care institutions.

Spatiotemporal evolution and characteristics of worldwide life expectancy.

Exploring global differences in life expectancy can facilitate the development of strategies to narrow regional disparities. However, few researchers have systematically examined patterns in the evolution of worldwide life expectancy over a long time period. Spatial differences among 181 countries in 4 types of worldwide life expectancy patterns from 1990 to 2019 were investigated via geographic information system (GIS) analysis. The aggregation characteristics of the spatiotemporal evolution of life expectancy were revealed by local indicators of spatial association. The analysis employed spatiotemporal sequence-based kernel density estimation and explored the differences in life expectancy among regions with the Theil index. We found that the global life expectancy progress rate shows upward then downward patterns over the last 30 years. Female have higher rates of spatiotemporal progression in life expectancy than male, with less internal variation and a wider spatial aggregation. The global spatial and temporal autocorrelation of life expectancy shows a weakening trend. The difference in life expectancy between male and female is reflected in both intrinsic causes of biological differences and extrinsic causes such as environment and lifestyle habits. Investment in education pulls apart differences in life expectancy over long time series. These results provide scientific guidelines for obtaining the highest possible level of health in countries around the world.

What's the ideal World Health Organization (WHO)?

The World Health Organization (WHO) is tasked with the 'attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health', yet, it is widely struggling to meet this mandate, and COVID-19 has revealed significant limitations of the organisation. Despite clear guidance provided by the institution as to how best to respond to the pathogen, many governments departed from WHO's guidance in their response efforts. Is this a new crisis for WHO? Does WHO need to restore its legitimacy in the eyes of the global community? As renewed calls for changes to WHO emerge, in this perspective we lay out the obstacles WHO face to become the WHO 'we' need. The assumption is that UN member states need an empowered and well-funded organisation. Yet, many years of discussion of reform of WHO have failed to lead to meaningful change, and glaring challenges remain in its financing, governance and politics, which are considered in turn. The reality may be that we have the WHO that UN member states need - one that can provide guidance and advice, but also take criticism for health governance failures when states want to avoid blame or responsibility. We discuss this, by analysing three key areas of WHO'S challenges: mandate and scope; structure, governance and money and domestic vs international.

The World Health Organization and the challenge of sharing administrative powers

The WHO’s management of the pandemic has drawn sharp criticism. It has been suggested that there is an urgent need for a reform providing more intrusive administrative powers. By contrast, this paper argues that the WHO needs sharing powers rather than intrusive powers. Given that the main international norms have arguably designed the WHO as a “non-authoritarian” authority aiming at the highest possible level of health of individuals, the paper suggests that the sharing of administrative powers be incentivised through the participation in proceedings of all institutional actors involved in emergency management.

On the Administrative Powers of the WHO: A Lesson from the Pandemic

Abstract The WHO’s management of the pandemic has drawn sharp criticism. It has been suggested that there is an urgent need for a reform providing more intrusive administrative powers. By contrast, this paper argues that the WHO needs sharing powers rather than intrusive powers. Given that the main international norms have arguably designated the WHO as a “non-authoritarian” authority aiming at the highest possible level of health for individuals, the paper suggests that sharing of administrative powers should be incentivised by involving all the relevant actors in the decision-making process, namely through the participation in proceedings of all actors involved in the decision-making, namely governments, national health authorities, and other non-state actors.

The role of agriculture in achieving Universal Health Coverage in Africa.

The World Health Organization strives to assist nations towards “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health” within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [1]. The Universal Health Coverage (UHC) policy is the first joint United Nations resolution calling for all countries worldwide to provide affordable, equitable, and quality […]

The Application of Hospital Safety Index for Analyzing Primary Healthcare Center (PHC) Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines the primary healthcare center (PHC) as a whole-of-society approach to health that aims at ensuring the highest possible level of health and well-being and their equitable distribution by focusing on people’s needs as early as possible along the continuum from health promotion and disease prevention to treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care, and as close as feasibly possible to people’s everyday environment. PHCs are expected to remain operational when disasters occur. This study aimed to assess the PHC disaster preparedness level in Indonesia using The Hospital Safety Index (HSI) from WHO/PAHO. Eleven PHCs located in four provinces in Indonesia, i.e., Jakarta, Yogyakarta, North Sumatera, and West Java, were selected. Data were collected through interviews, focus-group discussions (FGDs), observations, and document reviews. The parameters assessed were all types of hazards, structural or construction safety, nonstructural safety, and functional attributes. The results show that the overall score of HSI for PHCs in Jakarta (0.674) and North Sumatera (0.752) fell into the “A” category, meaning that these PHCs would likely remain operational in the case of disasters. Meanwhile, the overall HSI scores for PHCs in West Java (0.601) and Yogyakarta (0.602) were between 0.36 and 0.65, or in “B” category, meaning that these PHCs would be able to recover during disasters but several services would be exposed to danger. The results suggested that there are several gaps that need urgent interventions to be applied for the structural safety of buildings, water supply systems, fuel storage, disaster committee organization, furniture and fittings, offices and storage equipment, as well as increasing the capacity of workers through a structured and systematic training framework for disaster readiness. The results from this study can be used for prioritizing budgets and resource allocation, cost planning, providing specific solutions for local and national government, and efforts to achieve disaster risk reduction.

The World Health Organization’s approach to equity

The World Health Organization (WHO), as the most prominent global health institution as a specialized agency of the United Nations, has expressed concern for health equity as part of its mandate, “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health”. However, there is a lack of clarity around the WHO’s fundamental definition and conceptualization of equity. Through drawing on the WHO’s Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART) as an illustrative case, the aim is to determine how the WHO operationalizes equity in practice. Preliminary findings suggest there is no consistent understanding of what the goal of Urban HEART is. This research has direct implications for practice: not only can the findings be applied to other global health work that seeks to improve equity, but the WHO is planning to reinstate Urban HEART. As such, this research may be beneficial in guiding these plans. Further, the findings yield an important consideration for global and public health policy and practice more broadly: the need to clarify objectives around equity (e.g. because how equity is defined determines the work undertaken and the populations served).

A Few Words about Health Care Law

Every person has the right to health care and the opportunity to achieve the highest possible level of health. Every person is obliged to take care of their health. No one should endanger the health of other people. Every person is obliged to provide first aid to an injured or sick person in accordance with their knowledge and abilities and to provide them with access to the nearest medical institution. Every citizen has the right to health care while respecting the highest possible standard of human rights and values, i.e. the right to physical and mental integrity and security of his personality, as well as respect for his moral, cultural, religious and philosophical beliefs.

The constitutional economics of the World Health Organization.

This paper brings a constitutional economics perspective to bear on the World Health Organization (WHO), the flagship United Nations intergovernmental health organisation, which is obligated by its Constitution to achieve 'the highest possible level of health' for the world's peoples. The WHO has in the seven decades of its existence used its formidable legislative powers only sparingly. It has been widely chided for being weak in regional coordination and unresponsive to transnational emergencies like the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016. In 2020, it found itself at the centre of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the middle of the Sino-American geopolitical tug-of-war. This paper traces the discordance between the Constitution's stated purposes and the actual track record of the WHO not back to its organisational culture nor to weak leadership but to the design of the Constitution itself. It analytically distinguishes the Constitution's expressive from its instrumental halves, and shows that, whilst the former embodies a 'constitutional moment' of international health solidarity right after the Second World War, the latter embodies a reserved and limited delegation from member-states that are jealous of their sovereignty.

Quality Management System: Quality of Education, Science and Clinical Practice in Primary Care, Legislative and Regulatory Framework (Distance Learning Lecture)

The article presents modern data on the development of primary health care (PHC) and approaches to managing its quality, conceptі of quality, model of quality by A. Donabedian and WHO, the quality of structure, process and result of PHC, approaches to monitoring and improving quality. The regulatory framework and the results of reforming the PHC inUkraineare given, its impact on the quality of the PHC.The aim: is to provide basic concepts of quality of medical care and to explain the changes of quality of medical care in the process of reforming the healthcare system inUkraine.Materials and methods. A systematic review of the literature and legal documents, own experience and observations.Results. According to the WHO definition, primary health care is a providing treatment and prevention services at the local community level, usually by family doctors, patronage nurses, staff at local outpatient facilities, or other medical personnel. In the Astana Declaration of 2018, all countries of the world pledged to direct efforts and public investments to improve the quality of education, science and clinical practice of primary health care in order to ensure that all patients have access to the highest possible level of health. The creation of quality management systems for medical care is one of the priority areas of health care reform and determines both current and strategic prospects for the activities of any medical organization. According to the concept of A. Donabedian and WHO, quality is a multidimensional concept that consists of many components – safety, effectiveness, timeliness/optimality, efficiency/economy, fairness/equality, patient-orientation. In addition, quality is divided into three main components – the quality of the structure, process and result. The quality of the structure is the organizational aspects of the PHC – human and material and technical resources, legal support. The quality of the process is actually medical care itself, the implementation of diagnostic procedures in accordance with protocols and standards. The quality of the result – these are indicators that indicate what happens to the patient in the process of providing PHC. Monitoring the quality of PHC is carried out using indicators that can be developed and approved at the state or local levels. Quality improvement is described by the Deming Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. When describing these concepts, legal documents on reforming the PHC inUkraine, international directives and a description of the impact of their implementation on the quality of the PHC inUkraine are indicated.Conclusion. Taking into account the reformation of the Ukrainian healthcare system, the recommendations of the world community and the transition to market relations, general practitioners – family doctors need to learn an additional skill in managing the quality of medical care.

Contemporary aspects in patient health education

Achieving the highest possible level of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being. In recent years, the demand for knowledge about understanding health and finding resources to achieve a higher quality of life has become increasingly relevant. Health education for patients and their families is an important component of the nurse's professional work. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an analysis of literature sources on contemporary aspects of health education for patients and their families. Material and Methods: Sources and publications indexed in the following databases were used: Medline, EBSCO, Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed, Wiley online, as well as sites of the International Nursing Council and others. Results: Based on the analysis of literature sources, we propose an organizational model for patient health education. Conclusions: Health education needs to be prioritized and individualized. Involving the patient in the learning process will contribute to a more responsible attitude towards one's own health and greater independence.

EUPHA strategy 2020-2025: Achieving a triple A rating for health in Europe

Abstract The challenges we face are complex in nature, and require multidisciplinary and intersectoral action at different governance levels. Therefore, EUPHA will reinforce its two-tier approach. On the one hand, we will support our members in providing high quality and efficient public health and health care services in European countries, regions and local communities. On the other hand, we will advocate for health and support evidence-informed health policy-making at the international level. Stimulating and facilitating mutual learning and the exchange of knowledge and experiences across experts, members and countries will be an essential element of EUPHA’s approach. Not only with a focus on optimal support for our members, but also with an explicit focus on overcoming health inequalities within and between European countries. Our new vision is to enable everyone in Europe to achieve the highest possible level of health by providing independent and authoritative analysis of the evidence, combined with targeted advocacy to achieve co-ordinated action by all key stakeholders. Our vision: builds on the commitments of our governments and international agencies to achieve the health-related Sustainable Development Goals;recognises the importance of placing Health in All Policies;draws on the Vienna Declaration to embrace the entire range of health determinants, including the biological, social, environmental, occupational, political, and commercial, the health care system, and everything that influences the health of our planet. Our mission will be: To ensure that there is a strong evidence base, built on sustained investments in data, research capacity, and knowledge translation in all parts of Europe that can inform policies that impact on health;To identify, develop, and advocate for actionable policy recommendations to improve health;andTo support capacity-building and collaborations that can achieve public health action.

Infant Feeding Guidelines for the Asia Pacific Region.

Good nutrition for infants, during the first 1000 days from conception, is one of the most important determinants of a healthy long life. Breastfeeding is the most important component of infant nutrition and reduces morbidity and mortality. With the changes to the climate currently occurring, issues of nutrition and food supply are only going to increase in importance. The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, place nutrition at the forefront of world development and a sustainable planet. The vision of Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) is to "achieve the highest possible level of health of all the people of the nations of the Asia-Pacific region." Much of the burden of disease, early deaths, and disability in the Asia Pacific region could be reduced with public health efforts to address the major risk factors, including nutrition-related causes and smoking. The United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025 has recently been launched with the aim of reducing the global burden of inappropriate nutrition. The goals include increasing rates of exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months, reducing wasting and stunting, and reducing the rates of low birthweight. This is the position endorsed in these guidelines along with the principles of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. These guidelines expand the information on infants that was included in the 2016 APACPH Dietary Guidelines. APACPH covers many different environments, geographical areas, cultures, and socioeconomic groups. These guidelines are generally applicable to all infants in our region, specific local advice may sometimes be needed.

Migrant Labourers: a Study of Mental Stress

is always considered as wealth. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity: it is a fundamental human right and … the attainment of the highest possible level of health is a worldwide social goal whose realization requires the action of many other socio- economic and political sectors in addition to the health sector. All dimensions of socio- economic, political and cultural conditions such as food, water supply, education, housing, employment, reasonable wage and circumstances of creativity etc. play a vital role in maintaining health. This paper highlights the push factors as the fabricated trap to exploit the migrants physically, socially and mentally for surplus production with cheap labour. The intoxicants are the only medium for the migrants to leave the sufferings behind them for a time being.

Malaria Continues as a Major Public Health Problem

April is a busy month for days of emphasis in Global Health. On April 7, we mark the foundation of the World Health Organization (WHO) with World Health Day. On this date the WHO, to be headquartered in Geneva, came into being when the constitution was signed by a majority of members. The details of the first meeting and the aspirations for the work of the WHO are spelled out in the first issue of the WHO Chronicle.1 The 2015 World Health Day will emphasize the importance of food safety, a continuing public health problem.2 In early life, contaminated water and food causes diarrheal disease and a million child deaths each year, the second leading cause of death in children younger than 5 years. Most of these are preventable with clean water supplies, appropriate food hygiene, and adherence to WHO/UNICEF advice on breastfeeding.3 Later in the month, World Malaria Day is celebrated on April 25. It is interesting to note that the first WHO meeting on malaria was actually held several months before the WHO was formally established.1 One objective set by the emerging WHO was “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.” The first meeting of the Expert Committee noted “Malaria remains a great obstacle to the achievement of this objective. Now each year in April, the world remembers the burden placed on humanity by the Plasmodium protozoan parasite that still causes 200 million cases each year.4 Those of us who have worked in malarial areas know only too well its many clinical presentations. Young men with acute psychosis may actually have cerebral malaria and require urgent parental therapy, pregnant women with chronic anemia, and children with lethargy and splenomegaly are but a few of many presentations. Malaria features widely in the history of public health. The features of malaria have been described in literature going back almost 5000 years, first in China and then in ancient Egypt and Greece.4 In ad 300 Chinese physicians described the antipyretic effect of the Qinghao plant (Artemisia annua) and in 1971, Chinese researchers isolated its active component, artemesinin, which has become one of our mainstream drugs. Alphonse Laveran, a French army surgeon stationed in Algeria, first described the parasites in the blood of a patient suffering from malaria. Camillo Golgi, described the different forms of the parasite in blood cells. Both Laveran and Golgi were awarded the Nobel Prize for their contribution to tropical medicine and public health.5 In the Asia-Pacific region, malaria has often controlled human settlement with populations moving to highland regions, as in Papua New Guinea, or drier or cooler locations, as in China. Today it is estimated that 3.3 billion live in areas where they are at risk of acquiring a malaria infection. Malaria kills almost 600 000 each year, mostly children and the majority from Africa. In the Asia-Pacific region, it is still a major problem with 25 million cases and 50 000 deaths per

Universal health coverage and the public health workforce.

universal health coverage (uHC), part of the post-2015 development agenda, is an aspiration widely shared across the world and promoted by numerous international organizations.In 2012 the united Nations General assembly adopted a resolution for uHC, which urges governments to move towards 'providing all people with access to affordable, quality healthcare services'. the World Health Organization (WHO), which has a leading role in supporting countries to respond to the challenge of uHC and monitors its implementation, describes global support for uHC as gathering momentum.1Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO has said: I regard universal health coverage as the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer. It is inclusive. It unifies services and delivers them in a comprehensive and integrated way, based on primary health care.One of the challenges of uHC is the global shortage of all types of health workers, which has been a concern for many countries and forms a central plank of the work of WHO and many other global and regional organizations such as the World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation. WHO's strategy on Human resources for Health (HrH)2 seeks to ensure that all people have equitable access to an adequately trained, skilled and supportive health workforce, in order to attain the highest possible level of health. the third Global Forum on HrH in Brazil in 2013 resulted in the bolstering of political commitments on HrH, based on technical evidence, in order to accelerate progress towards uHC, and it began the process of developing a global strategy.these are crucial developments, but despite uHC being a major public health concern confronting the world and the significant global effort to address health workforce concerns, the place of the public health workforce seems invisible in these discussions. this commentary presents a brief review of the public health workforce in the context of the uHC and HrH agendas, together with a consideration of the opportunities for greater intersection, and therefore greater success.UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGEuHC - which is not a new concept - has been broadly defined as all people having access to needed service of appropriate quality without suffering financial hardship. the definition covers both individual and population health services - including promotion, prevention, acute treatment, rehabilitation and palliation.uHC is consistent with the definition of health in the WHO Constitution and the Declaration of alma ata,3 and has been more recently articulated in the Health Systems Knowledge Network of the Commission for Social Determinants of Health,4 and the World Health reports on renewal of Primary Care5 and Health Financing.6In practice, however, the differing understandings of uHC have either led to a focus on health insurance, or on delivery of individual health services. the monitoring indicators developed by WHO and the World Bank emphasize financial protection and impoverishment on the one hand, and service coverage for a variety of 'vertical' programmes, such as maternal and child health, on the other, albeit including some population-level health services.7 the financing and delivery of population-level health interventions seem to be largely sitting in the background, and the issue of public health system preparedness and public health system strengthening are largely absent from the discourse.HUMAN RESOURCES FOR HEALTHthe global HrH conversation has been concerned with addressing health worker migration, and promoting improved workforce planning and educational development at the national level. Labour market studies are increasingly being undertaken as part of understanding the dynamics of health workforce recruitment and retention.However, this workstream has some gaps. It is largely focused on countries experiencing HrH crisis - i.e. insufficient numbers of health workers to deliver healthcare. …

The Dilemma of Equity and Social Exclusion in Health are Delivery Services in Nigeria

Health is a fundamental human right and the attainment of the highest possible level of health is a most important worldwide social goal. The provision of quality, accessible and affordable healthcare therefore remains an important issue globally. However, there is no denying in the fact, that Nigeria’s healthcare index is very poor, and that the people are suffering as the healthcare policies and programmes in the country are implemented in a way that those at the lower socio-economic strata of society suffer exclusion. Consequently, the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria is largely hinged on individual’s ability to pay rather than on needs. This article argues that Nigeria’s national health care delivery indices can only be improved if services are available, accessible and affordable.

World Health Assembly Adopts Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan for 2013–2020

October 10 is World Mental Health Day, which prompted me to devote this October editorial to the recent action by the 66th World Health Assembly in adopting a document called Global Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020. In the document, the World Health Organization (WHO) states its vision as a world in which mental health is valued, mental disorders are effectively prevented, and in which persons affected by these disorders are able to access evidence-based health and social care and exercise the full range of human rights to attain the highest possible level of health and functioning free from stigma and discrimination. (WHO, 2013, p. 5) I think all of us in psychiatric nursing will agree that this vision is exactly what should—must—become a reality. Mental health care is a basic right. Yet, in our practice and research, we see the sad evidence of the lack of access to psychiatric care and the unwillingness of many individuals to access care because of stigma and discrimination. This journal has published some of that evidence. The Global Mental Health Action Plan (WHO, 2013) has four objectives:

World Health Assembly adopts Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020

On May 27, 2013, the World Health Assembly adopted the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–20201WHODraft comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020.http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA66/A66_10Rev1-en.pdfDate: May 16, 2013Google Scholar that has great potential to change the direction of mental health in countries around the world in the next 8 years. This action plan and the accompanying resolution—a first in the history of WHO—represent a formal recognition of the importance of mental health for WHO's 194 member states. It is also a commitment by all member states to take specified actions to improve mental health and to contribute to the attainment of a set of agreed global targets. The action plan focuses on four key objectives: “to strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health; provide comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings; implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health, and; strengthen information systems, evidence and research for mental health”.1WHODraft comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020.http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA66/A66_10Rev1-en.pdfDate: May 16, 2013Google Scholar Building upon earlier work,2WHOmhGAP Mental Health Gap Action Programme: scaling up care for mental, neurological and substance use disorders. World Health Organization, Geneva2008Google Scholar, 3Lancet Global Mental Health GroupScale up services for mental disorders: a call for action.Lancet. 2007; 370: 1241-1252Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (524) Google Scholar, 4Eaton J McCay L Semrau M Chatterjee S et al.Scale up of services for mental health in low-income and middle-income countries.Lancet. 2011; 378: 1592-1603Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (379) Google Scholar, 5Collins PY Patel V Joestl SS et al.Grand challenges in global mental health.Nature. 2011; 475: 27-30Crossref PubMed Scopus (1296) Google Scholar and based upon a consultation process that involved 135 member states, 60 WHO collaborating centres and academic centres, 76 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and 17 other organisations and individual experts in the past 12 months, consensus was reached on the key actions to be taken with respect to each of the four objectives by member states, WHO's Secretariat, and partners. Furthermore, for the first time, specific and measurable global targets and indicators have been agreed upon as a way to monitor implementation, progress, and impact. The targets include a 20% increase in service coverage for severe mental disorders and a 10% reduction of the suicide rate in countries by 2020. The Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 is testimony to some of the shifts in thinking about mental health that have occurred over the past few years. Issues that used to be at the periphery are now seen as central to providing an effective response to mental health problems. The plan highlights the importance of protecting and promoting human rights and includes a central role for the provision of community-based care and support. To ensure a comprehensive response to mental health, the plan introduces the notion of recovery, and moves away from a wholly medical model to address income generation and education opportunities, housing and social services, and other social determinants of mental health. The plan also highlights important actions that need to be taken around promotion of mental health and prevention of mental disorders, and to strengthen and empower civil society, especially organisations of people with mental disorders and psychosocial disability, so that they can take an active role in policy debates and decision-making processes. Ministries of health will need to take a leadership role and WHO will work with them and with international and national partners, including civil society, to implement the plan. Much of the action outlined in the plan will take place within countries, especially in the low-income and middle-income groups where needs are high and resources inadequate.6Saxena S Thornicroft G Knapp M Whiteford H Resources for mental health: scarcity, inequity, and inefficiency.Lancet. 2007; 370: 878-889Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1076) Google Scholar WHO will provide technical assistance to countries in line with their particular needs, and will draw upon the technical expertise of WHO collaborating centres, NGOs, academia, and other experts. A set of core indicators is being developed so that relevant data can be collected from all countries to track national, regional, and global progress, to be reported back to the World Health Assembly in 2015, 2018, and 2021. At the root of the action plan is a vision of “a world in which mental health is valued, promoted and protected, mental disorders are prevented and persons affected by these disorders are able to exercise the full range of human rights and to access high quality, culturally-appropriate health and social care in a timely way to promote recovery, all in order to attain the highest possible level of health and participate fully in society and at work free from stigmatisation and discrimination”.1WHODraft comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020.http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA66/A66_10Rev1-en.pdfDate: May 16, 2013Google Scholar Implementation of the action plan will face challenges; in particular, years or decades of inadequate investment into human and financial resources for mental health care need to be quickly reversed. Health policy planners and health professionals can help to enable this turn-around by ensuring that promoting, protecting, and restoring good mental health represents an integral part of their responsibilities. Local leaderships will need to develop to support this process. With concerted action by all stakeholders, WHO hopes to overcome these challenges and assist countries to deliver health care and other services that better conform to WHO's definition of health,7WHOConstitution of the World Health Organization. Basic documents, forty-fifth edition, supplement, October, 2006. World Health Organization, Geneva2006Google Scholar which explicitly recognises the critical place of mental and social wellbeing. We declare that we have no conflicts of interest. Can China's new mental health law substantially reduce the burden of illness attributable to mental disorders?The report by Gonghuan Yang and colleagues1 on the results of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 (GBD 2010) for China provides clear evidence of the importance of mental disorders in the overall health of the nation. Mental and behavioural disorders accounted for 9·5% of all disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and 23·6% of all years lived with disability (YLD). Seven of the top 20 causes of YLD are mental disorders: major depressive disorder, alcohol use disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, dysthymia, and drug use disorders. Full-Text PDF WHO's Global Clinical Practice Network for mental healthThe core constitutional responsibilities of the WHO include the promotion of global cooperation, acting as a directing authority for international initiatives that contribute to the advancement of health. The Global Clinical Practice Network (GCPN) , created by WHO's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, holds promise for promoting collaborative initiatives that enhance training, research, and clinical capacity for mental health worldwide. Eventually, these initiatives can change the way that mental health care is practised globally. Full-Text PDF