Message from the President

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Dear Friends,

Welcome to Vancouver.

The WFMH biennial conference is our opportunity to exchange knowledge, programs and innovative ideas and to discuss future cooperation and new strategies.

With your help and dedication, WFMH has furthered its position in the last two years as a leading international organization for mental health. Our efforts to raise awareness of this subject have helped to make it a focus of interest for those involved in health policy around the world. The World Health Organizations decision to select mental health as the topic for its World Health Day this year is an example of the new attention being given to it.

There has been real progress in considering policy issues covering systems of care, prevention, public education, the economics of mental health, the rights of the mentally ill and consumers participation.

These issues are so important that a worldwide movement is developing to address them, with the participation of partners such as the

World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the

World Bank and other United Nations agencies, and many interested governments, nongovernmental organizations and other national and international institutions.

Ideas which are new to some parts of the world are being introduced, such as the human rights of the fetus in this era of scientific progress, and the importance of the mental health of infants (see my remarks in the last three issues of the newsletter).

There is also more attention to ethics, responsible parenthood, and learning from the flavor of other cultures and from the wisdom of spiritual ideologies.

I would like to thank every one of you who has put effort into volunteering, and to give warm appreciation to those of our

WFMH Board members who are leaving office. I wish our new Board members a fruitful two years of collaboration in our work, and welcome our next president, Pirkko Lahti, with good wishes for a productive two-year term.

After our next Congress in Melbourne, Australia in 2003, I hope to welcome many of you to our 2005 Congress in Cairo in the land of the pharaohs and land of religions.

At the end of my term in office, I would especially like to acknowledge the dedication of all the people who work for WFMH in the background (including Elena Berger, Intsar Ibrahem, Deborah Maguire, Mohammed Omar and Mirja Sevon). Also, special thanks to our funders for their involvement in our activities.

Lastly, my heartfelt thanks go to my family who gave me all their support, and to my patients who were patient with me during my frequent travels away from home.

Peace be upon you all.

Dr. Ahmed Gamal Abou El Azayem

WFMH President