National Taskforce for Mental Health System Development in Indonesia
In June 2008, a successful collaboration between Directorate of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (MoH) and Centre for International Mental Health, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Australia supported by funding from AusAID, Christian Blind Mission (CBM) and World Health Organisation (WHO) Indonesia, established a National Task Force to develop Mental Health Systems in Indonesia. The aims of developing the task force are to strengthen the capacity of Indonesian Ministry of Health in planning, implementing, managing and evaluating mental health systems at national, province and district level to be able to scale up effective community based mental health services in the country.The membership of the National Task Force consists of mental health professionals from health and non-health sectors; government and non-government organizations both nationally and locally; WHO, representative of the community (including mentally ill patients and their families); and academics. Input will also be sought from a number of resource people from a variety of relevant disciplines and across sectors to assist in the work of the Task Force.
The following diagram shows the structure of National Task Force for Mental Health:
The objectives of the National Task Force are:
1.To develop studies and analysis and to produce a series of policy discussion papers that will be presented to government. To accomplish this purpose, the National Task Force is divided into 4 working groups:
- Legislation, policy, and financing and payment system
- Workforce development
- Service design and delivery
- Advocacy and human rights
3. Organise the 7th International Mental Health System Development Conference in Indonesia
Several activities have been successfully conducted:
10 Task Force members participated in the International Mental Health Leadership Program (iMHLP 2008) in Melbourne from 4th–22nd August 2008.
The Mental Health System Development Conference: Focus on Indonesia, was held in Melbourne, 14th-15th August 2008 in collaboration with CIMH. The Consul General of the Government of Indonesia attended the conference. As well as the Indonesia participants in the conference, representatives from Australian Institutions such as University of Melbourne, World Vision Australia, Nossal Institute for Global Health, and Australian Health Workforce Institute presented papers.
The National Task Force Establishment Workshop was held on 24th September 2008 in Jakarta, attended by National Task Force members. The aim of this workshop was to finalise the working group’s roles and tasks, develop networking among key players on mental health issues and have better understanding and analysis of mental health situation in Indonesia.
The Working Groups have made substantial progress in the relevant areas of activity in the first 6 months of operation of the Task Force.