ILO/WHO/WFMH Symposium

(Last Updated On: )

ILO/WHO/WFMH Symposium

To mark this years World Mental Health Day theme, “Mental Health and Work,” the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization and WFMH will hold a symposium and press conference, followed by a reception, at ILO Headquarters in Geneva on 10 October from 4 to 7pm. This event comes at the conclusion of a two-day conference organized by World Strategic Partners on “Workforce Productivity, Wellbeing, Rehabilitation and Risk Management: Mental Health in the Workplace” (for information about this meeting, see its web site at www.wspartners.com or contact World Strategic Partners by fax in the USA at 415 331 5236).

The program for 10 October is still being finalized by WHO and ILO representatives working with WFMH President Marten deVries. The opening speaker will be ILO Director General Juan Somovia. The WHO section is expected to include a presentation by Derek Yach, M.D., the head of the Cluster for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, on WHOs perpectives on mental health, and will also mark the release of a new book on work and mental health by Professor Gaston Harnois of Montreal. The ILO will offer two presentations, covering ILO activities in mental health and mental health in workplace issues. WFMHs speakers will be President Ahmed El Azayem, Secretary General Marten deVries, and Bill Wilkerson, a Senior Adviser to the Federation and its special representative to international business communities. In addition to Professor Harnois book, three documents will be presented at the meeting: a WHO/ILO report, a five-country situation analysis on work and mental health prepared by the ILO, and “Mindsets,” a book by Edgardo Perez, M.D., and Bill Wilkerson.