WPA 2011 - 2014 ACTION PLAN

This WPA Action Plan for the period 2011 - 2014 has been produced by the WPA Planning Committee, and reviewed and approved by the WPA Executive Committee and the General Assembly. Input from the WPA Council and WPA Board was also secured. As constructed, this 2011 - 2014 WPA Action Plan respected all the goals and objectives of the WPA By-Laws and WPA Statutes. It also maintained the experiences and achievements acquired during the last triennium which has one of the most successful triennium in the history of the WPA. This WPA 2011 - 2014 Action Plan seeks the involvement and participation of all of the components of the WPA.

GOAL 1: To enhance the image and respect of the WPA and the field of psychiatry and mental health worldwide, with specific emphasis on the general public, health care professionals, governments, policy makers, and society at large.

ACTIONS

1.1: Conduct ongoing press releases and reports with focus in the mot important advances in the field of psychiatry and mental health.  The WPA scientific sections will be deeply involved in these activities.  The WPA website will also be fully utilized for this purpose.

1.2: Produce written tools (books, articles, etc.) directed to enhance the public image of psychiatry across the world and, certainly, in all WPA regions.

1.3: Collaborate with mental health advocacy, users and carers organizations to eliminate stigma, discrimination practices and negative attitudes vis-à-vis mental illness across the world.

1.4: Collaborate with the appropriate mental health organizations and governmental agencies for the purposes of developing and implementing worldwide prevention programs vis-à-vis mental illness and conditions.

1.5: Create special presentations and forums in all major WPA Conferences and Congresses directed to promote mental health initiatives across the world.

GOAL 2: Plan and implement, in collaboration with all WPA Zone Representatives and local WPA Member Societies, educational programs directed to young psychiatrists and primary care specialists along the lines of clinical and investigative areas of relevance to the fields of psychiatry and mental health in all WPA regions.

ACTIONS

2.1: Seek appropriate funding for these highly relevant educational initiatives.

2.2: Select the appropriate teachers/faculty to conduct these highly relevant educational activities.

2.3: Select the most appropriate early career psychiatrists to participate in these educational activities.

2.4: Select and design the curriculum to be covered in these educational activities.

GOAL 3: Seek appropriate and high quality of educational materials for circulation worldwide via the WPA website.

ACTIONS

3.1: Ask the WPA Secretary for Education to select the appropriate and relevant educational curriculum to be included in this project.

3.2: Prepare the educational materials to be included in the WPA website.

3.3: Assess in an ongoing basis the outcome of these educational projects in order to keep it up-to-date from a scientific point of view.

GOAL 4: Promote and disseminate worldwide relevant psychiatric and mental health information directed to improve the quality of psychiatric care across the world.

ACTIONS

4.1: To maintain the high standards of excellence of World Psychiatry.

4.2: Carefully maintain the selection of books to be published by the WPA.

4.3: Promote the dissemination of evidence-based scientific information via all appropriate WPA media channels.

GOAL 5: Operate the WPA under the highest organizational ethical standards.

ACTIONS

5.1: Maintain the highest standards of fiscal accountability, transparency and openness.

5.2: Disseminate periodically full fiscal reports of all WPA activities via the WPA media channels (website, newsletters, etc.).

5.3: Develop and maintain an open disclosure among the high leadership of all WPA insofar as potential areas of conflicts.  Use the WPA website for this purpose.

GOAL 6: Maintain the highest standards of quality of the WPA Scientific Meetings.

ACTIONS

6.1: Select the best possible speakers and presentations in all of the WPA Sponsored Scientific Meetings.

6.2: Conduct WPA Scientific Meetings in regions and areas of the world where the scientific needs are very high (e.g., low income countries and regions of the world).

GOAL 7: Promote the highest quality of scientific activities in the fields of psychiatry and mental health.

ACTIONS

7.1: Promote the highest quality of leadership in all WPA Scientific Sections.

7.2: Seek financial support for the WPA Scientific Sections.

7.3: Stimulate the WPA Scientific Sections to present and actively collaborate in all WPA Scientific Meetings.

GOAL 8: Fully advocate for the rights of the mentally ill across the world.

ACTIONS

8.1: Join forces with as many as possible advocacy, and users and carers organizations.

8.2: Provide appropriate leadership vis-à-vis the rights of the mentally ill worldwide.

8.3: Advocate for full access and quality of psychiatric care worldwide, with emphasis on the poorest regions of the world in collaboration with international health and mental health organizations.

8.4: Assist governmental agencies across the world to protect the rights of the people with mental illness and the highest standards of care for them worldwide.

GOAL 9: Participate and collaborate with all worldwide organizations in the development and implementation of appropriate diagnostic and nomenclature systems across the world.

ACTIONS

9.1: Collaborate with the World Health Organization (WHO) in the revision and implementation of the appropriate International Classification Systems across the world.

9.2: Collaborate with the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and other organizations in the development and implementation of Diagnostic Statistical Manuals (DSM).

9.3: Collaborate in the Harmonization of all Diagnostic Manuals across the world.