Mental Health:Facing the Challenges, Building Solutions Report from the Who European Ministerial Conference

The Member States in the WHO European Region met at the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Mental Health in Helsinki in January 2005 to tackle one of the major threats to the well-being of Europeans: the epidemic of psychosocial distress and mental ill health. These countries took mental health from the shadow of stigma and discrimination and brought it to the centre of the public health policy arena. By adopting the Mental Health Declaration and Action Plan for Europe, they set the course for mental health policy for the next 5-10 years. Member States now face the challenge of acting on the principles of the Declaration and accomplishing the goals in the Action Plan's 12 areas of work. This book contributes to the achievement of this task by describing the current situation in the Region, presenting the texts of the Declaration and Action Plan, offering brief discussions of the areas of work (with examples of initiatives already underway in each) and describing WHO's plans to assist Member States in improving mental health in the European Region.World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe Staff is the author of 'Mental Health:Facing the Challenges, Building Solutions Report from the Who European Ministerial Conference', published 2005 under ISBN 9789289013772 and ISBN 928901377X.