First Quarter 2002 Newsletter (Last Updated On: ) Africa African Regional Council for Mental Health (ARCMH) The African Regional Council for Mental Health held an executive meeting on Lusaka, Zambia, on 28 February. The meeting was convened by ARCMH President Isaac Mwendapole. Elizabeth Matare, WFMH Regional Vice President and Honorary Secretary of the ARCMH attended, together with Shona Sturgeon, WFMH Board Member at Large, and Petronella Mayeya, manager of the Canadian-sponsored Project MHASISA (Mental Health Action Strategies in Southern Africa). One of the major purposes of the meeting was to review the project�s workplan and the progress report to be submitted to the Canadian International Development Agency and the Canadian Mental Health Association. Fundraising to sustain the project was also discussed. The meeting examined difficulties in creating new links throughout the African region. To improve contacts in French-speaking countries the next ARCMH newsletter will be printed in French as well as English. – Shona Sturgeon, WFMH Board Member-at-Large South Africa The Executive Director of the South African Federation for Mental Health for the past 22 years, Lage Vitus, retired at the end of February. He served a total of 33 years with the organization. The Federation held a dinner on 12 March in Johannesburg to honor him. His successor as Executive Director is Solomon Paul Mokgata, who had previously been the Assistant National Director of the South African National Epilepsy League. He has experience in business and the media, in social work, and as an industrial relations officer. Europe Mental Health Europe (MHE) At its General Assembly in Brussels in March, Mental Health Europe elected Leo de Graaf, M.D., as its new President. .Dr. de Graaf has been Director of a diversified psychiatric and psychosocial service provider called �De Gelderse Roos� since 1990. Previously he worked from 1980 as a child psychiatrist in a community mental health center which merged into De Gelderse Roos. At an earlier stage in his career he practiced tropical medicine in Malawi. In addition to his medical work, he was a Representative in the Provincial Parliament of Gelderland from 1982 to 1995. He has been a Board member of MHE since 1999, and Treasurer from 2000. -Mental Health Europe, [email protected] Belgium�s Year of Mental Health Five organizations in Belgium sponsored the �Year of Mental Health� in 2001 as a special effort dedicated to the destigmatization of mental illness and psychiatric patients. This initiative was arranged by the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels Leagues for Mental Health, joined by the Julie Renson Foundation and the Queen Fabiola Foundation for Mental Health. Many events were held throughout 2001 to reach the general public, the media, politicians, academics and professionals. Financing such a campaign was difficult, and the organizers had little initial success. Eventually they got support from two international pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly and Sanofi-Synthelabo, and two Belgian companies, Electrabel (an electricity distributor) and BIAC (the manager of the national airport). They also obtained a great many smaller contributions of money, volunteer help, and donations of in-kind services. Getting such a large number of supporters involved was a very positive result of the campaign, showing that attention to mental health made sense for people in the field, even if not high-level decision-makers were more cautious about the issue. One important conclusion of the year�s effort was the great need for mental health professionals to become more involved with other areas of society such as businesses, schools, the social services and the justice system � and with the places where people live, where psychiatric problems may occur, and where they have to be accepted. Destigmatization begins there, much more than in mental health services. During the year 2001 the doors were open as often as possible, and many positive results are now being seen. – Martine Baudin Julie Renson Foundation [email protected] Western Pacific Western Pacific Regional Meeting Hong Kong A WFMH Western Pacific Regional Meeting was held in Hong Kong on 2 February 2002. It was attended by the Federation�s President, Pirkko Lahti; Board Member at Large Chueh Chang (Mental Health Association of Taiwan); Morgan Ng (Richmond Fellowship of Hong Kong); Deborah Wan (New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association); T.N. Foo and Marcus Chiu (Mental Health Association of Hong Kong); and Dr. Suchada Sakorusatian (Department of Mental Health, Thailand). The meeting was chaired by the Regional Vice President, Dr. Kazuyoshi Yamamoto (Japan). Pirkko Lahti reviewed recent Federation activities, including collaboration with the World Health Organization. Chueh Chang gave an update on regional affairs, and the group made preliminary plans for Western Pacific participation in the program of the Melbourne World Congress in 2003. Information was presented about a study on ageing in Japan, which was proposed at a WFMH regional meeting last November by Drs. Tsung-yi Lin, Kunihiko Asai and KazuyoshiYamamoto. There was also a review of ways to encourage broader local and regional participation in meetings such as the ILO-WFMH-NLPRA Seminar which had just taken place in Hong Kong. Dr. Suchada Sakorusatian reported on Thailand�s plans to hold a conference on mental health in the workplace in Bangkok in the near future. Guidelines for good practices have been prepared, and five corporations will join a pilot program. – Kazuyoshi Yamamoto, WFMH Regional Vice President At the WFMH Western Pacific Regional Meeting in Hong Kong (left to right): Chueh Chang (Taiwan), Kazuyoshi Yamamoto (Japan), Pirkko Lahti (Finland), and Suchada Sakorusation (Thailand) with Marcus Chiu, T.N.Foo and Deborah Wan (all of Hong Kong). First Quarter 2002 Newsletter