PA/35/11                                                                                  30 August 2011
 

Mental Health: A global burden too large for one country to solve alone
 

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare India and the University of Melbourne signed an MOU on Tuesday 30th August in Delhi to collaborate on strengthening India’s national community mental health system.

This collaboration will seek to address the mental health burden and treatment gap in India on mental health.

Simon Evans, the Pro Vice Chancellor International of the University of Melbourne told an audience in Delhi today that “this project is an innovative and exciting opportunity to create positive change for diverse community mental health care in India, and to provide global leadership in implementing quality and culturally appropriate services to close the mental health treatment gap.”

The University of Melbourne is a leading centre for the development of mental health services both nationally and internationally.

The collaboration will develop community mental health models in India that can be scaled up to increase access to effective care for people with mental illness.

Four key pilot sites across India have been identified as pathfinders for a national program. Best practice models will be developed in these pilot sites to reflect the needs of people in diverse rural and urban conditions.

Acting Australian High Commissioner to India, Dr Lachlan Strahan, welcomed the initiative saying "both India and Australia are looking at ways to get individuals to recognise mental illness, get access to the right services, and get help in dealing with the stigma of mental health which can lock people out of work, education and community engagement. This collaboration will identify innovative and practical approaches for dealing with these challenges in the Indian context."

Over the next two years, each of the four field sites will be supported by a tertiary care mental health institute and a local administrative committee representing the broad community stakeholders in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

A bilateral Advisory Committee chaired by the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will oversee the overall project.
Technical expertise will be provided by The University of Melbourne’s Asia-Australia Mental Health. The project is a partnership with the Australia India Institute.

Dr Strahan added the initiative was “another example of the depth of the bilateral relationship between Australia and India that now encompasses so many fields”.
 

For more information: Assoc Prof Chee Ng or Julia Fraser +61408858899