~Maastricht Symposium: From Research to Advocacy~
March 4-6, 1998
This meeting brought together some sixty people for a program of international presentations on broad aspects of mental health.
Those present included the WFMH Board and Secretariat, leaders of WFMH Collaborating Centers, and representatives of
consumers, industry, government, and international organizations. WFMH President Marten deVries arranged the program in
an informal setting and designed it to support strategic planning for the Federation, to provide input for the Board meeting
which took place immediately afterwards, and to link national, regional and global approaches to mental health care. Mrs.
Margarita Kok-Roukema, the wife of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and a member of the WFMH International
Committee of Women Leaders, attended the opening session.
Mental Health Forum
A pre-conference Forum focused on health care systems in selected countries. Sander Bersee, the Chief of the Department of
Mental Health (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport) in the Netherlands noted that the structure of government health
departments and the health care system in any country is an often overlooked factor in determining the success of health
research and programs. His description of mental health care services in the Netherlands was supplemented by information
from Henk Rigter of the Trimbos Institute, Frans Leenders of GGZ Nederland (Netherlands Association for Mental Health
Care), and Laurens Henkelman of ZON (the Health Research and Development Council). Rachel Jenkins (Institute of
Psychiatry, London) gave a presentation on government mental health services in the United Kingdom, and Thomas
Bornemann (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) spoke on the government mental health program in the United
States. Later Harvey Whiteford (Australian Ministry of Health) discussed reforms in the Australian system.
Science and Advocacy
Secretary General Brody introduced the conference theme with a review titled Science and Advocacy: Partners and Rivals in
50 Years of WFMH. This session of the symposium highlighted the scientific work of WFMH Collaborative Centers and
Committees. Presentations were given by Sheppard Kellam (Prevention Research Program, Johns Hopkins University, USA);
John Copeland (Institute of Human Ageing, University of Liverpool, UK); Donna Stewart (Toronto Hospital Womens Health
Program and Womens Mental Health Program); Marten deVries (IPSER, The Netherlands); and Arthur Stone (Applied
Behavioral Medicine Research Institute, State University of New York, USA – approved as a new Collaborating Center at the
Maastricht Board meeting). Presentations on behalf of WFMH Committees were made by Lucile Newman (Chair of the
Committee on Responsible Parenthood), Barry Jay (Secretary of the Committee Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation
of Children), and Solvig Ekblad and Derrick Silove, Chair and Co-Chair of the Committee on Refugees and Other Migrants.
Derrick Silove also representated WFMH Collaborating Center STARTTS (the Service for Treatment and Rehabilitation of
Torture and Trauma Survivors, Australia).
Regional Viewpoints
Benedetto Saraceno, Director of the World Health Organizations Action Program, Nations for Mental Health, opened the
next session with a keynote address describing WHO initiatives and demonstration projects in low-income countries. WFMH
Regional Vice Presidents and their representatives covered perspectives from their areas, highlighting the differences between
low-income countries and the four developed countries whose health care systems had been described. Those present included
Shona Sturgeon (Africa), Hassan Kassim Khan (Eastern Mediterranean), Patt Franciosi (USA), Luisa Rossi and Andres
Gaitan (Mexico, Central America, Caribbean), Pirkko Lahti (Europe), Benjamin Vicente (South America) and Eva Gonzalez
(Southeast Asia). Cheuh Chang (Western Pacific) introduced two researchers from Taiwan, Yow-Hwey Hu and Yah-Jong
Chou, who spoke about the need to examine stereotypes of regional mental health through grassroots research.
Dr.Yow-Hwey Hu noted that, despite traditional respect for the elderly in Asian societies and the image of close and
supportive Asian families caring for elderly relatives, there was a very high rate of suicide among elderly women in Taiwan.
A session chaired by President Elect Ahmed El Azayem covered topics including perspectives from the pharmaceutical industry
and from managed health care systems. Andrew Weber of Jansen-Cilag and Organon and Larry Cimino of Eli Lilly presented
the viewpoint of industry. Harry Pomerantz (IPSER, The Netherlands) spoke about important recent trends in managed care.
This subject was also addressed earlier in the program by David Nace (Medical Director, Human Affairs International USA
and President of the American Managed Behavioral Health Care Association). Advocacy in the United Nations system was
described by Board member Marc Morival and Nancy Wallace, WFMH Main Representative at UN headquarters in New
York.
Consumers Issues
Consumers views were presented at the meeting by Judi Chamberlin (USA), Joel Slack (USA/Sweden), Clemens Huitink
(Netherlands) and Janet Meagher (Board member, Australia). They pressed for closer involvement by consumers in the
planning and programming of WFMH events. Meagher discussed significant issues related to patient care, including the need
for a definition of what constitutes abuse of patients; the need to investigate sexual abuse of patients in psychiatric care settings;
and the need to provide services for those people who can accurately detect the beginning of an episode of mental illness at an
early stage, but are forced to wait for a more acute deterioration before being able to obtain help.
The program on 6 March included two periods for workgroup sessions, one specifically focused on strategic planning issues
arising from the presentations, and the other on issues selected by the participants themselves for further discussion.
The sponsors of the symposium were the Dutch Ministries of Health and of Foreign Affairs; the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Janssen-Cilag and Organon; Maastricht
University; Human Affairs International USA; Eli Lilly; IPSER; NFGV; and an anonymous donor in the United States.
Board Meeting
Immediately after the symposium a WFMH Board meeting was held on 7-8 March 1998 in the Spanish Government Museum,
a historic house which was the Spanish Governments residence in Maastricht in the 16th century. All of the members of the
strategic planning work group attended the meeting, and the current status of the strategic planning process was reviewed.
Other business included planning for the Chile and Vancouver World Congresses in 1999 and 2001. Preparation for these
events requires a long lead time: Australia was selected as the location for the Congress in 2003, and possible locations for
2005 were discussed.