Please Print on Your Letterhead

PLEASE PRINT ON YOUR LETTERHEAD

ENTER YOUR NAME & ADRESS

(CONTACT NAME & ADRESS)

DATE

Dear (ENTER TITLE & NAME OF REPRESENTATIVE(s), e.g. Minister or Politician or Senior Governmental Official),

Re: Including a specific mental illness target and related indicators in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Time is pressing for negotiations on the United Nations Post 2015 Development Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals). While physical health is a distinct goal in the draft SDGs, people with mental illnesses are yet to be strongly represented.

I respectfully request that the Government of (ENTER COUNTRY NAME) strongly supports the inclusion of a specific mental illness target (and 2 associated indicators) in the final version of the SDGs.

The July 19th 2014 United Nations SDG draft includes an overall Health Goal is: ‘Proposed goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’.

A recent Editorial in the BMJ by Thornicroft and Patel calls upon colleagues worldwide to include within this Health Goal the following specific mental illness target:

‘The provision of mental and physical health and social care services for people with mental disorders, in parity with resources for services addressing physical health.’

They also propose that this is directly supported by 2 indicators related to the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020:

(1) 'To ensure that service coverage for people with severe mental disorders in each country will have increased to at least 20% by 2020 (including a community orientated package of interventions for people with psychosis; bipolar affective disorder; or moderate-severe depression).'

(2) ‘To increase the amount invested in mental health (as a % of total health budget) by 100% by 2020 in each low and middle income country’

I would like to ask the Government of (ADD COUNTRY NAME) to strongly support the growing body of international opinion to include this specific target and these 2 specific indicators in the in final version of the SDGs.

You will appreciate that this is of vital importance as those issues included as SDG goals, targets and indicators are more likely to receive financial support from international donors.

As you know time is of the essence as the next round of main UN discussions will take place in January next year, with a series of preparatory meetings in the interim, in which you play an important role.

I greatly appreciate your consideration of this issue and I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

YOUR NAME

On behalf of:

Dr. Florence Baingana, MB ChB, MM(Psychiatry), MSc (HPPF) / Uganda / Makerere University School of Public Health
Professor Dinesh Bhugra / UK / President Elect, World Psychiatric Association
Dr. Julian Eaton / Togo / CBM
Ms. Kathryn Goetzke, MBA / USA / iFred, International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression
Professor Oye Gureje / Nigeria / PAM-D NIH Collaborative Hub for International Research in Mental Health; University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Dr. Gabriel Ivbijaro / UK / World Federation for Mental Health
Mr. Jagannath Lamichhane / Nepal / Movement for Global Mental Health
Professor Crick Lund / South Africa / PRIME consortium & AFFIRM NIH Collaborative Hub for International Research in Mental Health
Ms. Jess McQuail / UK / BasicNeeds
Professor Harry Minas / Australia / Melbourne University, International Mental Health Centre
Dr. Juliet Nakku / Uganda / Makerere University/Butabika National Hospital
Ms. Tina Ntulo / Uganda / BasicNeeds Foundation Uganda
Professor Vikram Patel / UK/India / Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Sangath and the Public Health Foundation of India
Dr. Shoba Raja / India / BasicNeeds
Professor Benedetto Saraceno / Switzerland / Gulbenkian Foundation
Professor Norman Sartorius / Switzerland / Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes
Dr. Shekhar Saxena / Switzerland / Technical advisor
Professor Paul Summergrad / USA / President, American Psychiatric Association; Chairman, Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine
Professor Ezra Susser / USA / Rede Americas NIH Collaborative Hub for International Research in Mental Health & Columbia University, New York
Dr. R. Thara / India / Schizophrenia Research Foundation
Professor Graham Thornicroft / UK / Centre for Global Mental Health, King’s College London
Mr. Chris Underhill / UK / BasicNeeds
Dr. Robert Van Voren / Netherlands / Mental Health in Human Rights (F-GIP)
Ms. Nicole Votruba / Germany / #FundaMentalSDG Co-ordinator

Background

#FundaMentalSDG

#FundaMentalSDG is an initiative which aims to include a specific mental health target in the post-2015 SDG agenda. We are committed to the principle that there can be no health without mental health, and no sustainable development without including mental health into the post-2015 SDG agenda. We therefore strongly advocate for the inclusion of a specific mental health target, and 2 associated specific indicators within the new Sustainable Development Goals. The #FundaMentalSDG initiative is led by the #FundaMentalSDG Steering Group, composed of the above leaders in the field of global mental health, drawn from a wide range of service user, carer, advocacy, policy, service delivery and research organisations.

Visit www.fundamentalsdg.org and twitter.com/FundaMentalSDG for more information.

Mental Health

1 in 4 people will experience an episode of mental illness in their lifetime, according to the WHO. Most (85%) of these people are in Low and Middle Income Countries. Mental and behavioral problems account for 7.4% of the global burden of disease measured using Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Mental and behavioral problems command nearly one-quarter of the global total share of Years Lived with Disability. This is the biggest single cause, more than cardiovascular diseases and cancer combined.

In high income countries men with mental health problems die 20 years and women 15 years earlier than people without mental health problems. In low income countries this gap is likely to be much wider. In some countries, and for more severe disorders such as schizophrenia, the treatment gap is as wide as 98%. Yet, global budgeting still shows a mismatch, and more commitment is needed by governments to budget adequately for psychosocial disability treatment and services

Mental health status is associated in multiple ways with each of the 17 proposed SDGs, and can therefore be considered as a fully cross-cutting issue. We as international community have a responsibility to demonstrate appropriate consideration of mental health issues in the Post 2015 Agenda.

Version of 9-Sep-14 www.facebook.com/FundaMentalSDG