Salzburg Seminar on Global Health Recommendations for WHO
WFMH Senior Consultant Eugene B. Brody was an invited participant at a”Salzburg Seminar Special Session” held from 8 to 12 July 2000 on “CriticalIssues in Global Health: Leadership Challenges in the 21st Century.” Thesession held at the Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, was convenedby C. Everett Koop, former U.S. Surgeon General and director of the Officeof International Health. It was organized by the U.S. National Center forHealth Education of New York, headed by Clarence Pearson who, with his staffand internationally experienced colleagues from the Academy for EducationalDevelopment in Washington, D.C., served as the faculty secretariat. Theseminar was funded by the W.K. Kellog Foundation with additional supportfrom the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Seminar participants examined the context for “transformational leadershipto influence global health,” discussed the requirements for future leadersand methods of training them, and produced recommendations to help WHOachieve its goals and objectives for global health. The bulk of theparticipants were academicians in the fields of medicine, epidemiology,nutrition, population, public health, and health policy.
Dr. Brody was the only mental health specialist at the seminar. WHO wasrepresented by several past and current officers, including Derek Yach,Executive Director in charge of the departments concerned withnon-communicable diseases and mental health. Dr. Yach gave one of thekeynote addresses, representing WHO Director General Brundtland. Keynotemessages were also delivered by Dr. Koop and by political scientist HarlanCleveland, former Marshall Plan administrator after World War II, U.S.Undersecretary of State, U.S. Ambassador to NATO and holder of manydistinctions including the U.S. Medal of Freedom. Among other notableparticipants were the Director of the Public Health Research Institute inMoscow, Russian Federation; the Chairman of the Technical Committee forHealth Reform of Lebanon; the Chairman of the Global Forum for HealthResearch based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; andthe former Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research in NewDelhi.
SIND in Kosovo
SIND, the Danish Mental Health Association, recently received a one-yeargrant to help the mentally ill in Kosovo by developing day centers and otheralternatives to psychiatric care in hospitals. Kosovo, formerly a region ofYugoslavia, suffered intensely during the civil war. It has 2.2 millioninhabitants, most of them Muslims. An administrator for the SIND project,Karen Reiff, moved to the capital city, Pristina, at mid-year. She wasfollowed soon after by a Danish social worker, Linda Bregendorf, who willstay for at least six months.
Between 1994 and 1998 SIND supported another initiative in the region incooperation with the Hamlet Trust, London, to establish a day center for thementally ill in Tirana, Albania. The center continues to operatesuccessfully and its director, Adriatik Bicaku, has been a valuable sourceof advice for the new project. He will visit Pristina at least monthly toconsult with the Danish workers.
A delegation from SIND led by its President, Bente Djorup, went to Pristinaon 4-8 September. It included Executive Director Kim Christensen; KnudJensen, chair of the SIND International Committee (and a WFMH Board member);and the adviser for developing countries, Hans Wulffsberg.
In addition to planning the development of their project they also visitedHANDIKOS, an organization which works with handicapped people but lacksexperience in helping the mentally ill. They visited an institution for thementally handicapped supported by the Norwegian Red Cross, STIMJE, andthought it was being run along very old-fashioned principles. On theirreturn to Denmark they recommended to the Norwegian Red Cross that it shouldsupport collectives for the mentally handicapped instead. SINDrepresentatives will return to Pristina in December for another review oftheir team’s work.
WHO is active in helping to build up a mental health system for Kosovo, withplans which generally follow the structure of the community psychiatrysystem in Trieste. While in Pristina the Danish delegation attended aseminar on mental health legislation arranged by WHO.
Meetings
Netherlands
The annual meeting of Mental Health Europe-Sante Mentale Europe will be heldin conjunction with “European Conference on Mental Health 2001 – VisiblyImproved, Improved Visibility” in Rotterdam on 7-9 March 2001. Thisconference is being organized by GGZ Nederland and the Trimbos Institute.For information, contact Maurice Galla, European Project Manager at theTrimbos Institute by email at [email protected]
Israel
Following the first International Conference on Violence and Adolescence inJerusalem in November 1999, a second Conference on the same theme will beheld there on 17-19 July 2001. The main theme is “Prevention of Violence inAdolescence.” The meeting is being organized by the WFMH Committee onAdolescents chaired by Emanuel Chigier. For information, contact: ISASInternational Seminars, POB 574, Jerusalem 91004, Israel. Tel: 972 2 6520574. Fax: 972 2 652 0558. Email: [email protected]