Supporting the Implementation of Mental Health Policies in the Americas: A Human Rights Law-Based Approach

This paper is based on first hand experiences from nineteen human rights educational workshops and consultations carried out in the PAHO Region. These consultations started in Central America and continued in South America and the Caribbean in 17 countries. The workshops included an average of 35 participants per workshop, from governmental agencies (ministries of health, labor, education and finance), civil society, as well as judges, legislators, ombudspersons, the media, consumers and family members.

During these events PAHO’s human rights experts, in close collaboration with mental health specialists, introduced relevant human rights’ concepts, principles, norms, and guidelines as established in international human rights law (treaties and standards) applicable to the context of mental health systems.

This paper summarizes results from the training workshops, presented as “trends” or “patterns” related to mental health systems within the Region and proposes actions for public health, especially targeted to exclude groups.

We hope that this paper, the reflection of five years of intense work in the Region of the Americas on health and human rights in the context of mental health systems, can serve as a guide to advocates and specialists in other public health areas that intend to use the human rights treaties, principles, norms and standards as a conceptual and legal framework to improve the health of the people around the world, especially children; young people; women; older persons; indigenous peoples and persons living with HIV, among others.