International perspectives on eMental health
MasterMind
During the final conference of the MasterMind eMental health project, Clayton Hamilton, leader of the eHealth and Innovation Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, presented international perspectives on eMental health.
MasterMind is a European Union-funded project that aims to make high-quality treatment for depression more widely available through technology. The final conference was held on 8 February 2017 to present the results of the last three years of the project’s work, and WHO/Europe was invited to present the European regional view on the growth of eMental health and the success of the MasterMind project.
The key points of the presentation included:
- the importance of eMental health in the context of achieving key health policy objectives in Europe;
- insight into how to propagate the results across all Member States in the WHO European Region;
- how WHO’s European Mental Health Action Plan for 2013–2020 supports mental health in the Region regarding access, rights, services and safe and effective treatment for all; and
- information on WHO’s guiding policy frameworks for health, including Health 2020, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the European Health Information Initiative.
MasterMind final conference
The MasterMind project was created in 2014 to facilitate equal access to the best possible mental health care across Europe by developing high-quality treatment and management of mental health disorders through advanced technologies and services. The final conference was held in Barcelona, Spain, and brought together participants and the many stakeholders in the project to present and discuss the findings and unveil the results of the last three years of research, before the project officially closes at the end of February 2017.
During the conference a broad-spectrum debate was held on the future of mental health, where speakers from policy, research and interest organizations enriched the discussions with their individual perspectives on the importance of eMental health and health innovation. The conference was attended by 127 participants and 18 speakers.
Further work in this area will continue in the new ImpleMentAll Project, in which WHO/Europe will participate.
Depression is also the focus of World Health Day on 7 April 2017 under the theme “Let’s Talk”.
