title: Policy actions to achieve integrated community-based mental health services.
abstract: Globally, the majority of people with mental health problems do not receive evidence-based interventions that can transform their lives. We describe six mental health policy actions adopted at the World Innovation Summit for Health in 2013. For each policy action, we offer real-world examples of mental health innovations that governments and health care providers can implement to move toward universal health coverage for mental health. The six policy actions are empowering people with mental health problems and their families, building a diverse mental health workforce, developing collaborative and multidisciplinary mental health teams, using technology to increase access to mental health care, identifying and treating mental health problems early, and reducing premature mortality in people with mental health problems. Challenges to implementing these policy actions include the lack of recognition of mental health as a global health priority and the resulting lack of investment in mental health, the difficulties of integrating mental health into primary care health services because of a scarcity of human and financial resources, and the lack of evidence on the effectiveness and costs of taking innovations to a national scale.
authors.affiliation: Mary DeSilva (Mary.DeSilva@lshtm.ac.uk) is a senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in the United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: DeSilva
authors.affiliation: Chiara Samele is director of Informed Thinking, in London, and a senior fellow at the Institute of Mental Health, in Nottingham.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Samele
authors.affiliation: Shekhar Saxena is cochair of the Mental Health Forum, World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), Qatar Foundation; and director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization, in Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Shekhar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saxena
authors.affiliation: Vikram Patel is cochair of the Mental Health Forum, WISH, and a professor at both the Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Centre for Mental Health, the Public Health Foundation of India, in Sangath, Goa.
authors.forename: Vikram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Ara Darzi is executive chair of WISH, Qatar Foundation, and director of the Centre for Health Policy, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London.
authors.forename: Ara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Darzi
mesh_terms: D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D014943:Global Health; D006040:Goals; D006291:Health Policy; D006292:Health Priorities; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Access To Care; International/global health studies; Managed Care—Mental Health < Managed Care