Good mental health is important for our well-being, overall health and life-quality, as well as for the prosperity of countries. Mental health is closely linked with the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Global Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) addresses both the need of prevention and quality care of mental ill-health and mental disorders across the world.
Global MHPSS actors in Sweden have identified a need of meeting and coming together to build synergy and further develop the work, while sharing and building on experiences, knowledge and tools. The Global Mental Health and Psycosocial Support Network aims to provide opportunities for coordination between Global MHPSS Actors across the full MHPSS spectrum, as actors often work in the same contexts and countries, but often under different sectors and are not always able to complement each other’s efforts.
Overall network goal
Complementing efforts will be one of the key outcomes of the network to ensure the coming together of mental health actors (often working under health) and psychosocial support actors (often working under protection). Entities working in the realm of global mental health and psychosocial support, including but not limited to representatives from Swedish civil society, academia, governmental institutions, practitioners and private sector related actors, can choose to be part of the network.
Vision
The network aims to improve access to high quality and affordable Mental Health and Psychosocial Support services.
Mission
Promoting global Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services and development by connecting people, ideas and resources.
In 2018, Government Offices of Sweden launched a framework for Sweden’s work on global health –implementing the 2030 Agenda. For its implementation thematic Swedish Networks for Global Health grew organically. The added value of these networks is the enabling of multisectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration around global health, allowing a large number of Swedish actors to come together through coordinated and joint action.
In 2019, the Global Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Network was initiated. The network coordination is shared by War Child Sweden and Karolinska Institutet. A steering group supports the coordinator in the strategic development of the network and in the initiation of activities. SIGHT supports the overall work with the Swedish Networks for Global Health and stimulates synergies between thematic areas and networks.
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Peter Brune, coordinator for the Global Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Network (MHPSS) in Sweden. In a post-pandemic world, we will see increased need for
The purpose of SIGHT is to use an interdisciplinary approach to promote Swedish research and education, and to provide a scientific basis for policy work in the field of global health.
