The International Observatory on Mental Health Systems (IOMHS)
The International Observatory on Mental Health Systems (IOMHS) is an initiative of the Centre for International Mental Health, University of Melbourne, in partnership with leading organisations committed to mental health system development.
Mission
The mission of the Observatory is to contribute to achievement of the goals – identified as essential by both WHO mhGAP and the Movement for Global Mental Health – of capacity building, and monitoring of progress by countries in scaling up mental health services. The key to both these goals is the production, dissemination and use of high quality evidence for mental health system development.
The evidence that is produced by the Observatory will strengthen political commitment to scaling up of services. It will inform the development of policies and plans, will be used to strengthen and re-shape human resources, and will enable monitoring and evaluation of the progress being made by countries in developing mental health systems that are effective, responsive to social, cultural and economic contexts, equitably distributed, accessible and affordable. The Observatory’s work program will focus in particular on low and middle-income countries where the need for system development is greatest. [10]
Partnerships
A key strategy will be to engage leading institutions and individuals in high, middle and low-income countries in collaborative partnerships that have evidence for system development as their core focus. The partnerships that the Observatory will seek to establish will be with governments, professional associations, civil society and other organisations, and leading Universities. It will be particularly important for the Observatory to establish partnership arrangements with national development agencies, multilateral UN agencies (WHO, UNDP, Unicef, UNHCR) and with international NGOs that are increasingly committed to developing mental health programs. The Observatory will also seek to develop productive relationships with the corporate and philanthropic sector. It is anticipated that existing networks, such as the pacific Islands Mental Health Network (PIMHnet), [12] will be important partners.
The collaborative network established by the Centre for International Mental Health, including the more than 140 graduates of the Centre’s Mental Health Leadership Programs in 18 countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific, will form a strong foundation for the work of the Observatory in Asia and the Pacific. The role of the Centre in the Advisory Board of the Global Movement for Mental Health, on the Movement’s Advocacy Steering Committee, and the Centre’s key role in the Capacity Development component of the Movement’s work, will link the Observatory with a global network of mental health leaders.