2016 Global Health Forum in Taiwan
An Interview with Nicole Votruba
採訪者 Interviewee:
- 國立政治大學 心理系 助理教授 吳治勳 (Wu Chih-Hsun)
- 國立陽明大學 醫學系 四年級 洪益欣 (Hung Yi-Hsin)
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| An Interview with Nicole Votruba |
-- Nicole Votruba is the co-ordinator of FundaMentalSDG and the researcher from King’s College London. She is an experienced international programme manager with a focus on global mental health and International policy, and a background in political sciences. In her current position as co-ordinator of FundaMentalSDG, together with a Steering Group of renowned international mental health specialists, she is advocating for a clear mental health target in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. --
In Taiwan, mental health is often neglected. Therefore, as a coordinator of FundaMental SDG, what would you suggest us on promoting mental health in Taiwan?
Thank you very much for your question. It is a pleasure to be here, I just arrived this lovely country yesterday. I don’t feel I am able to give you recommendations in details, because I don’t know very much about the mental health system and context in Taiwan yet. The work that we have been doing for FundaMentalSDG (www.fundaMentalSDG.org) focuses on the global level, which means that we have been trying to advocate policy makers at the United Nations (UN) and in governments to strengthen mental health, and to include mental health targets and indicators in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
I am very impressed about Taiwan, by the country itself and by the friendly and easy-going people as well. From what I see, Taiwanese people seem to have good wellbeing. However, I believe that mental health problems are still a critical and urgent problem here, like anywhere else in the world, since we know from the World Health Organization (WHO) that 1 in 4 people will have mental health issues in the course of their lives. Mental illnesses are often neglected, and chronically underfunded in all countries of the world.
Your government has invited me to the Global Health Forum Taiwan 2016 and during the summit the ministry have stressed that mental health is an important health issue for Taiwan. I am very happy about this kind invitation, and grateful for the opportunity to talk about mental health. And I strongly feel that this is a sign that there is a willingness and an appreciation about mental health
In your opinion, how should we start to do that? For instance, we don’t have large scale surveys of mental health as US, England, and Australia. Do you think that is needed? Do you have any suggestions for our policy makers?
Yes, I fully agree that there is a need for data collection, surveys, metrics and indicators. As WHO president Margaret Chan said: ‘What gets measured gets done!’ This is important on the global, on the national, regional and local level. This is why FundaMental SDG has been advocating in the past years at the UN for the inclusion of a mental health goal, targets and indicators. The UN have included several mental health targets within the Health Goal 3 of the SDGs, and now we need indicators to measure what will be done.
Surveys will help us to numbers, and numbers and qualitative data together will help us to understand how the people are really doing. Research, surveys, data collection, measurement, and evaluation in mental health will be beneficial and helpful to strengthen the overall health system and mental health, and make it sustainable.
Do you think these indicators should be local to meet the difference cultures of the different countries? Or if there should be more universal indicators?
A good example and details are provided by WHO, who have provided a list of 100 health indicators and several indicators are for mental health. Also, there are some available resources you can look up on WHO mhGAP website. I think the culture difference is important, and WHO considers the implementation with regards to the country specifics.
Do you have any suggestions of international organizations or activities that Taiwan should join?
Yes, there are many activities that Taiwan could support, for example the work of the FundaMentalSDG initiative, to advocate the UN to include and strengthen mental health indicators in the UN SDGs. Another relevant initiative is the global INDIGO network (www.indigo-group.org), which has just started with different interventions to reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental health problems. Stigma and discrimination are important barriers to access to care and mental health systems strengthening, and cause additional harm in people with mental health problems.
Do you suggest any “first-steps” in advocating and promoting mental health? For instance, emotion-education as a part of prevention strategy.
Yes, I think one of the points is getting mental health into general health care. I think what Professor Michael Moore said in this morning on advocacy building is very helpful - you need a crisis, and you need the urgency.
Mental disorders are often neglected because people think it is not a crisis or urgent. But in fact it is- lives are lost, years are lost, and quality of life is lost. For example, in high income countries, suicide is the 2nd cause of death in 18-25 year olds. In some low income countries, up to 85% of people with severe mental health problems are not being treated.
In addition, stigma and discrimination are very prevalent against people with mental health problems. If you cut your arm, you can see it bleeding and cure it directly, whereas, schizophrenia and depression are more difficult to see. The illness is not necessarily obvious, and it is much harder to understand. This is one of the reasons why people with mental disorders are being discriminated against and neglected. There is a lot of work to do. We have to advocate policy makers to strengthen mental health systems and services. Getting small wins and taking small steps can be a way to reach the goal. For example, I have just been told that there is a great art project done by Aging Project and the Mental Health Club of National Yang Ming University, by Yi-Hsin Hung and her classmates, to reduce discrimination against elderly people and mental health problems. This is a great action by young people to strengthen mental health! We need more projects like this, both in Taiwan, in the UK, and all over the world!
By C.
2016 Global Health Forum in Taiwan An Interview with Nicole Votruba 採訪者 Interviewee: - 國立政治大學 心理系 助理教授 吳治勳 (Wu Chih-Hsun) - 國立陽明大學 醫學...