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Conference Wrap-up: Top 10 Photos

— Kate Turner (@KateTurner45)

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Workshop at a Glance: A global mental illness crisis

Dr. Katrin Malakuti of IMCES

An estimated one in four people globally will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organisation. It’s shocking to learn that almost one million people die due to suicide every year, and it is the third leading cause of death among young people. The situation is so serious that depression is ranked third in the global burden of disease and is projected to rank first in 2030.

At Thursday's workshop called “Global Mental Illness Crisis and a Replicable, Sustainable Intervention," a team from the Institute for Multicultural Counseling & Education Services and International Council of Psychologists presented their research and perspectives on how to address this challenge around the world. Kicking off the session was a presentation on how cultural differences pervade mental illness and treatment, and the research being undertaken by the panel in an attempt to develop global best practices and general principles.

Comparative studies between Eastern Europe, Latin America and North America have started to identify clear local differences in the way patients view their illnesses and how practitioners treat them, which are becoming the foundation of their draft global guidelines. There was also a presentation on a new home-based service for vulnerable people in Los Angeles, which uses a holistic method of engaging individuals and families with complex needs.

Coupled with research into cultural variances in stigma to develop a local assessment tool, researchers hope this will become the basis to develop targets to address mental health stigma in a local population. Dr. Katrin Malakuti said, “Cultural stigma is major barrier in accessing mental health care. Stigma surrounding mental illness can be more destructive than mental illness itself."

This work is building on a general desire to reduce the shame people feel around mental health, seeking treatment and ensuing psychosocial disability. In the workshop, there was a call for far greater integration of mental health into development efforts. Currently the OWG draft SDGs contains one mention of ‘mental health.' In Goal 3, target 3.4 states ‘by 2030 reduce by one-third pre-mature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through prevention and treatment, and promote mental health and well-being.' The panelists and many participants in the workshop did not feel this was robust enough to address the scale of the problem.

On reflection, it may perhaps be worth considering a stronger link to Goal 1 (which focuses on an end to all forms of poverty everywhere) as well as a stronger presence in Goal 3 regarding mental health, well-being and poverty. Poverty and hunger have a strong impact on mental health. Stresses from unemployment, violence, social exclusion and deprivation are all significant contributory factors to mental illness and psychosocial disability. Prohibitive costs of treatment also exacerbate the problem and mental illness contributes to the cycle of poverty being a cause of disability and disability being a cause of poverty.

Consequently persons with mental and psychosocial disabilities represent a significant proportion of the world’s population - millions of people worldwide have mental health conditions. It will be interesting to see how those people are represented as the post-2015 process develops.

-- Kate Turner (@KateTurner45)

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Disability and Inclusion: If you're not named, you're not counted

The current draft Sustainable Development Goals contain nine references to inclusion and disability. That’s nine more references than in the Millennium Development Goals, which did not contain a single mention of disability in its eight goals, 21 targets and 60 indicators.

This omission meant that the specific development needs of a billion people – 15% of the world population – have been overlooked. It’s a staggering amount and a shocking fact, especially when you consider that 80% of persons with disabilities globally live in developing countries and are among the world’s poorest. It’s also stark reminder of the link between poverty and disability: poverty is a cause of disability and disability a cause of poverty.

Nine references is great progress and speaks highly of the concerted and focused advocacy efforts of the disability movement to ensure that persons with disabilities are included. However, the movement is not complacent. The key message coming from the Chair of International Disability Alliance (IDA), Maryanne Diamond was the need to keep pushing inclusion as the post-2015 process heads into the next stage of negotiations, specifically among member states. Diamond has been speaking at the conference to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in development, delivering a speech not only at the opening ceremony, but at a human rights roundtable “(Really) Leaving No One Behind” too. 

I managed to catch up with Maryanne Diamond and the vice-chair of the IDA, Nawaf Kabbara, to get their thoughts on the SDGs so far.  Both agreed it was encouraging that disaggregated data featured, as this was the missing yardstick by which to measure implementation and efficacy of policy, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. How can you tell you are making a difference if you have no baseline by which to compare?

Diamond and Kabbara both spoke of the need for equity and inclusion to underpin all goals and targets, stating that a post-2015 framework will only be successful if everyone is included. They also spoke of the lesson learned - "If you’re not named, you’re not counted" - adding that disability must be mainstreamed into all development areas. Eradicating poverty won’t be achievable without including everyone.

The next stage of negotiations and discussions will be critical for the inclusion of persons with disabilities, particularly around financing and modes of implementation. The International Disability Alliance knows that persons with disabilities have been all too vulnerable to exclusion and is determined that as the inter-governmental negotiations start, disability shall remain a cross-cutting issue. While the overall ambition was to have a stand-alone goal with cross-cutting element in a similar vein to the gender and women goal, nine references is a solid foundation to include persons with disabilities in society, education and growth.

Being a disability advocacy activist myself, the current momentum around disability is extremely encouraging. This has played out across the conference in speeches, workshops and roundtables. I closed my day at the conference by attending a workshop on the "Health, Freedom and Human Rights of the Disabled." The afternoon session saw testimonials from those who work with adults and children with disabilities, including those with ‘invisible’ mental illnesses and psycho-social disabilities, an art display by an artist with cerebral palsy and a piano performance by a 13-year-old sightless maestro and a wheelchair dancer, all showing their right to participate.

-- Kate Turner (@KateTurner45)

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Grappling with gender inequalities

Photo credit: UN DPI/NGO

"Violence against women is a pandemic" was the potent statement that slapped conference delegates in the face at the Wednesday afternoon roundtable session, "Fighting Inequalities – Economic, Social, Political and Environmental." Panelists convened to discuss an array of inequalities including health, education and wealth. But women and gender inequalities was the boomerang topic for both participants and speakers. Bollywood actress and panelist Mallika Sherawat made an impassioned plea to stop violence against women, adding that a woman is raped every 20 minutes in India.

Gender is one of the key conversations at the conference and whether Goal 5, which seeks to "achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls," is robust enough given the alarming scale of the inequalities faced by women and girls globally. 

All over the world, women suffer the most from poverty but have the least say in what is done to tackle it. They account for approximately two-thirds of the 1.4 billion people globally who live in extreme poverty. Many of those struggle to access education, encounter gender-based violence and are not able to participate in decision-making processes. These problems are even worse for women and girls with disabilities who encounter double barriers to participation due to their impairment and their gender. 

Some of the text within Goal 5 presents challenges, which delegates and panelists alluded to throughout speeches, discourse and questions. Firstly, it is not grounded in human rights, but talks of empowerment. This creates ambiguity in interpretation. Secondly, the inclusion of the phrase "nationally appropriate" in a target around equal distribution of work is particularly difficult to swallow; it can sanction practices that are inherently unequal yet local. Many discussions and statements coming from the floor suggested a strong sense of frustration that things are not moving quickly or extensively enough in addressing these issues.

In another workshop on women and entrepreneurship, panelists shared their experiences of either working as a female entrepreneur, empowering other women into business or working on partnerships in support of women. Stark differences in the levels of entrepreneurship between the Middle East and the US were highlighted by Hazami Barmada, with 35% of start-ups in MENA initiated by women, compared to 13% in the States, and discussion ensued as to why this was the case.

Panelists talked about the power of private and public partnership in supporting women’s business and the need for greater financial literacy and strong economically viable propositions being available to women. There were also heartening stories of success, with Neha Misra of Solar Sister, a social enterprise in Uganda which tackles energy poverty through solar technology and empowering women, talking about their work to help some of the 1.6 billion people on the planet - 70% are women and girls living in developing countries - who don’t have access to reliable electricity.

Closing the first day of the conference, delegates were reminded of the importance of women in the post-2015 agenda. The biggest round of applause was in response to the statement that women need to be involved in all decision making.

-- Kate Turner (@KateTurner45)