| CHAIR: | Michaela Amering |
Address: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Medical University of Vienna Währinger Gürtel 18-20 1090 Vienna Austria Phone: 43 1 404003502 Fax: 43 1 404003714 E-mail: michaela.amering@meduniwien.ac.at |
| CO-CHAIR: | Wolfgang Rutz | Address: Surbrunnsgatan 40/II 11348 Stockholm Sweden Phone: 46 70 6115858 E-mail: wolfgang@rutz.se |
| SECRETARY: | Jonathan Burns |
Address: Department of Psychiatry Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine University of KwaZulu-Natal 719 Umbilo Road Private Bag 7 Durban 4000 South Africa Phone: 27 31 2604321 Fax: 27 31 2604322 E-mail: burns@ukzn.ac.za |
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Field of interest and activities
Public policy influences psychiatry and mental health and illness in a multitude of ways. Consequently the role of the Section on Public Policy and Psychiatry is very broad and includes:
- Promoting the understanding of mental illness in the general public
- Combating the stigma of mental illness
- Encouraging policy-makers to use epidemiological data in making health policy decisions
- Evaluating community commitment laws to establish which provisions are most socially and individually appropriate
- Establishing advantageous legal frameworks for businesses that employ people with disabilities
- Helping to correct the disincentives to employment engendered by national disability pension schemes
- Advising on the development of adequate funding for mental health services and recovery-oriented funding mechanisms
- Fostering modernisation of antiquated, institution-bound mental health service systems
- Promoting the relevance of psychiatry for health systems in low-income countries
- Emphasising the social importance of training psychiatrists
- Promoting the integration of mental health services into general health care.
Recent Activities
- Prague, 2008, September 22 - Minutes of section meeting of WPA Section on Public Policy and Psychiatry
- Melbourne, 2007, November 29 - Minutes of section meeting of WPA Section on Public Policy and Psychiatry
- Buenos Aires, 2011, September 21 - Minutes of section meeting of WPA Section on ‘Public Policy and Psychiatry’
- Florence, 2009, April 3 - Minutes of section meeting of WPA Section on Public Policy and Psychiatry
- Marrakech, 2010, October 24 - Minutes of section meeting of WPA Section on Public Policy and Psychiatry at WASP Congress
