Collaboration between the World Health Organization and the World Psychiatric Association in the period 1996 - 1999.

Workplan and timetable

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) have been in official working relationships since 1962. During these years the two organizations have collaborated in several educational and research projects. Collaboration in the past few years concentrated on the development of the Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases and related educational activities and on the facilitation of communication between mental health programmes and public health programmes. The latter line of action was pursued by the presentations of WHO programmes and activities at WPA meetings and World Congresses, by the presence and occasional statements by WPA representatives at WHO constitutional meetings (the Executive Board and World Health Assembly). Representatives of the WHO 'have been invited and contributed to scientific meetings organized by the WPA and vice versa.

The WPA Information folder submitted to the WHO provides information about the WPA. The contents of the folder are attached to this document.

Goals of continuing collaboration between WHO and WPA

1. To exchange information related to the provision of care to patients suffering from mental disorders and to relevant research and education.

2. To promote and disseminate policies and knowledge generated by the two organizations to their constituencies

3. To collaborate in educational programmes concerning psychiatric matters

4. To collaborate in the development of research and other collaborative projects with particular emphasis on the strengthening of research capabilities in the developing countries.

Activities

In the pursuance of the above goals the two organizations will undertake the following activities :

1.) The WPA will provide YMO with information about all of its scientific meetings and undertake to facilitate the inclusion of VMO programme statements in the programme of such meetings.

2.) The WHO will provide the WPA (and vice versa) with two copies of all of its technical documents and publications relevant for the field of mental health. When possible and when requested by the WHO WPA will help in the distribution of VMO publications to its member societies, zonal representatives and other components of its structure.

3.) WPA and VMO representatives will meet at least once every six months to present new developments in the field of education concerning mental health and to explore possibilities for collaboration in educational activities. It is expected that such collaboration will, in the course of 1998 and 1999, concentrate on educational programmes dealing with public health aspects of psychiatry and with the programmes directed at the education in psychiatry at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

4.) WPA and WHO will provide each other opportunities for participation in the development of technical consensus documents that the organizations may undertake in the pursuance of its constituions and by-laws.

5.) WPA and WHO will collaborate in the promotion of the distribution and use of consensus statements produced by either of the organizations. At present the WPA Madrid Declaration dealing with ethical aspects of the practice of psychiatry is in the process of wide distribution and WPA and WHO will work together on making the Declaration well known and used, eg. in the drafting of national legislation and production of guidelines concerning psychiatric research. practice and education. The Declaration and the UN Resolution 46/119.(on the protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of mental health care ) complement one another and their use can be promoted jointly.

6.) WPA and WHO will collaborate in the production of publication on topics of interest to both organizations. For publications produced jointly WPA and WHO will share the copyright For all other publications produced by the two organizations WHO and VYTA will permit the use of material copyrighted in their name for any and all non-commercial technical and scientific activities.

7.) The technical arms of the two organizations - the WPA technical Sections and the WHO Collaborating centres have much to benefit from being linked to each other's actitivity. WPA will furnish the WHO with an up-to-date list of its sections with their terms of reference and WHO will provide the WPA a similar list concerning its collaborating centres. On the basis of this exchange of information the representatives of the two organizations will develop specific proposals for technical collaboration between the two organizations.

Communication arrangements.

The WHO and the WPA will each designate a person who will serve as the liaison officer for the collaboration between the two organizations. The liaison persons will maintain regular contact and inform the Executive Committee of the WPA and the Director of the Division of Mental Health and Prevention of Substance abuse about the development of collaborative activities listed above and about proposals for the initiation of new activities in the framework given by the goals agreed upon in the development of this plan of work so that the procedures for the initiation of such activities within the two organizations can be employed prior to their addition to the plan of work stated above.