The Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted, on 16 May 2013, the comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020 (the action plan having at its core the globally accepted principle that there is “no health without mental health”), urging Member States to implement proposed actions for Member States in the comprehensive mental health action plan, and inviting international, regional and national partners to take note of the comprehensive mental health action plan (WHO, Draft comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020, Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly A66/10 Rev.1, Provisional agenda item 13.3 16 May 2013, Report by the Secretariat( http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA66/A66_10Rev1-en.pdf). This draft action plan covered “mental health” (“a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”), having the following objectives: to strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health; to provide comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings; to implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health; to strengthen information systems, evidence and research for mental health.

Within this context it is worth remembering that two years ago, Eliot Sorel and David Satcher argued that it is imperative that mental disorders be included on the United Nations’ agenda in the very near future. According to Eliot Sorel and David Satcher: “Mental health is essential to overall health and well-being. Without mental health, we cannot be considered healthy. Mental health affects the individual’s ability to function, to be productive, to establish and maintain positive relationships, and to experience a state of well-being” (Eliot Sorel, David Satcher – The U.N.’s Unfortunate Exclusion, Psychiatric News / October 7, 2011, p. 8).

On January 4, 2012, Professor Eliot Sorel wrote to Dr. Ala Alwan – Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health from February 2008 to February 2012 (from 1 February 2012, the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean) – on behalf of Dr. David Satcher, the 16th Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Pedro Ruiz, the President of the World Psychiatric Association and himself, congratulating Dr. Ala Alwan for the remarkable accomplishment of having Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) on the UN General Assembly’s agenda in New York past September, considering this “a historic and remarkable accomplishment, but also incomplete since it did not include one of the most prevalent clusters of NCDs, that of mental disorders, most relevant, across all health systems in low-, middle- and high-income countries and  with concurrent other factors”, and attaching the op-ed, Dr. Satcher & him wrote on the subject of NCDs at the UN (mentioned above). Professor Eliot Sorel argued that: WHO can play a catalytic role with programmatic attention & innovative, integrative approaches between the NCDs on the UN Assembly’s agenda and mental disorders; one positive step that could be immediately considered to remedy the current situation of exclusion, is as NCDs evaluative markers are developed, the WHO would take into account the possible inclusion of mental health markers into them, across health systems; additionally, it may also be worthwhile to consider a joint professional & policy Summit on NCDs with an agenda that would be inclusive of mental health and mental disorders, to address both, NCDs collaborative, integrative models of health promotion & care, and NCDs parity, nondiscrimination policy models across health systems.

On January 16, 2012, Patricia A. Newton, M.D., MPH, M.A., National President of Black Psychiatrists of America, Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, also wrote to Dr. Ala Alwan in support of Professor Sorel’s Communications from January 4, 2012 – the topic being viewed as a priority – and encouraging the support of WHO in helping to champion the cause of integrating the mental health needs of the patients with their total health care needs.

On May 5, 2012, the APA (American Psychiatric Association) Assembly-Philadelphia unanimously adopted “The New APA Council on Global Psychiatry,” whereas: << Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) lead in the global burden of diseases and disability; Mental disorders lead among NCDs regarding the burden of diseases and of disability; NCDs have been on the UN Assembly’s agenda since the autumn of 2011; Mental disorders were not included on the agenda at that time; A group of American physicians – D. Satcher, E. Sorel, P. Ruiz, J. Lieberman, P. Newton – advocated for the inclusion of mental disorders in the WHO EB agenda in January 2012; As a result of the physicians’ action, mental health & mental disorders inclusion in all health systems is now part of the WHO EB Resolution which will be discussed, debated, and voted on in the  WHO Assembly in Geneva, May 2012; Effective responses to the NCDs burden of disease & disability require the integration of primary care, mental health, & public health in all nations, low-, middle- and high-income… >>

We are pleased to make known that Professor’s Sorel double reflection (before the action and in action of advocating Global Health/Mental Health) helped enabling “integrated care” as a better user-centered means to improve services in relation to necessary access, quality, patient satisfaction and efficiency. Bringing together inputs, delivery, management and organization of services related to diagnosis, treatment, care, rehabilitation and health promotion (as considered within the framework of WHO), “integrated care” remains a worldwide trend in health care reforms and new organizational arrangements focused on delivering the right continuous care in the right settings.