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February 25, 2019, 12:05 pm
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Mental Health Gains Global Focus EMAIL
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Eve Byrd is director of the Carter Center’s Mental news about the
Health Program. work of The
Carter Center
Under the leadership and guidance of former First and special
Lady Rosalynn Carter, The Carter Center Mental event invitations.
Health Program is joining with other
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organizations to bring attention and resources to
mental health care, both in the United States and
abroad. Program Director Eve Byrd explains.
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Q: The Carter Center is part of something called the Lancet SUBSCRIBE

Commission. What is that?
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Sustainable Development was created by the prestigious medical Subscribe to blog via
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journal The Lancet to make mental health care a greater priority
worldwide. The commission aims to reduce the global health and
economic burden of mental health problems. It debuted in October
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2018 with the release of a report by a group of 28 commissioners.
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That report is a blueprint for action to help improve global mental Mental Health Gains
health worldwide as part of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals Global Focus

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100&Change

Countries

Health

Working with the Liberian government, The Carter Center has helped to createJimmy Carter
a corps of over 240
trained and credentialed mental health clinicians now serving all 15 countiesPeace
in the country.
(Photo: The Carter Center) Podcast

Q: How did The Carter Center become involved in it? Rosalynn

Carter
Byrd: The Lancet asked Dr. Janice Cooper, former Mental Health Webcast
Program lead in Liberia and now our advisor for global mental Archive

health, to become a member of the Lancet Commission and one of

the authors of the report. Our work in Liberia to build a mental ARCHIVES
health care system, work with the Ministry of Health to pass Liberia’s
Select Month 
first mental health law, empower patients, encourage prevention,
and combat discrimination is very much aligned with the
commission’s recommendations. Attention to mental health is
essential if low- and middle-income countries — and high-income
countries — are going to achieve overall health and economic goals.

Q: Does the commission focus on specific countries?

Byrd: People typically think of the report as more directed toward

low-income countries, but really, it’s directed to all. It’s applicable to
wealthy countries like the United States. … The Netherlands will be
hosting the next Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit (in
October 2019). The global visibility mental health is receiving right
now is unprecedented. It recognizes that mental health is tied to the
importance of human capital. Whether young or old, if people are
struggling with a traumatic experience (war, loss, separation,
poverty) or have mental illness, then they are not going to be able to
realize their personal goals, professional goals, educational goals —
ability to work, ability to have a family. These are the things we all
want for ourselves and our loved ones. That’s why mental health has
been called out in the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals as
needing attention. The Lancet Commission specifically cites the
importance of youth, not only in providing them treatment services,
but also engaging them in prevention and early intervention, and
engaging them in the conversation. The health of youth has been a
focus of Mrs. Carter’s work for decades.

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Q: Can Liberia’s success be replicated elsewhere?

Byrd: The Liberia Mental Health Program is considered a model.

Other countries are very interested, particularly in work force
development — the post-baccalaureate mental health clinician
training and the need to build a complete system of care. One reason
The Carter Center has been so successful in Liberia is that we didn’t
just train people and send them out. In collaboration with the
government and our Liberian colleagues, we have created a system
in which clinicians and non-specialists can provide the clinical
services and supports that they’ve been trained in. The plan has
always been to help Liberia stand up its own system of care, help
them assemble the resources they need to sustain it, and then step
aside.

Q: What’s next? Is there reason for optimism in global mental

health?

Byrd: Mental health has never had the global platform that it has
now. Young people are acquiring a voice; we need to help amplify
their voice and support the movement. The Rosalynn Carter
Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism have spread to Qatar, the
United Arab Emirates, Colombia, and other countries, helping to
open up conversations about mental health in places where that had
not been the norm. Domestically, an unprecedented, diverse group of
organizations is committed to establishing policies and practices
that support prevention and early intervention, as well as access to
mental health care on par with physical health care. Mrs. Carter says
that for many the stigma is melting away, and a lot of people feel
like they can speak about their experience and feel empowered to
demand the care they deserve. I am very optimistic.

Learn more about the Center’s Mental Health Program »

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