Topic 1: Mental Health Treatment
Country: Russian Federation
Committee: World Health Organization
School: Skyview High School
Delegate’s Name: Natalya Skiba

"When compared with all other diseases (such as cancer and heart disease), mental illness ranks first in terms of causing disability in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, according to a study by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2001). This groundbreaking study found that mental illness (including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia) accounts for 25% of all disability across major industrialized countries".

Each year, millions of people suffer from mental illness. Many adults and children are significantly disabled by severe and persistent mental illness. Untreated mental illness is a great world wide problem. The stigma of mental illness often discourages patients from seeking care despite the existence of new drugs and therapies that have vastly improved the chances for effective treatment and recovery.

Mental illness is shockingly common, affecting almost every family- directly or indirectly. It can strike a child, a brother, a grandparent, or a co-worker. It can strike someone of any background; it can strike at any stage of life, from childhood to old age. No community is unaffected, no school or workplace untouched.

About 5-7 percent of adults, in a given year, have a serious mental illness, according to several nationally representative studies (DHHS, 1999; Kessler, 2001; NHSDA, 2002). "Serious mental illness" is a term used in federal regulations for any diagnosable mental disorder that affects work, home, or other areas of social functioning. A similar percentage of children, about 5-9 percent, have a "serious emotional disturbance," or SED. This term also comes from Federal regulations, and it refers to any diagnosable mental disorder (in a child under age 18) that severely disrupts social, academic, and emotional functioning. The annual prevalence figures translate into millions of adults and children disabled by mental illness. People with mental health problems also bring a lot of loss to their country’s economy for example in the US, the economy's loss of productivity from mental illness amounts to $63 billion annually (DHHS, 1999).

The bottom line is that mental illness is very common and very disabling-and not to be dismissed as a character flaw or weakness. But like physical illness, it is treatable, especially when the treatment comes early. There are many effective treatments for mental illness, according to the landmark 1999 report, Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. With effective treatment, services, and the support of families, friends, and communities, the possibility of recovery is no longer elusive.

While many people are given good care and manage to recover, the reality is that about one out of every two people who needs mental health treatment does not receive it (Kessler et al., 2001; NHSDA, 2002). The individual who reaches care may find that many treatments and services are simply unavailable, also the quality of care may be inadequate.

Currently, numerous Federal, State and local government entities in different countries oversee mental health programs, policy, funding and the diverse network of public and private providers. The Russian Federation strongly supports more efficient organization and those receive coordination that could assist these providers in ensuring effective treatment in need. But we also wonder if the problem of mental health treatment is being taken care of and thus maybe UN should spent it’s resources on something more global, like AIDS and TB or even the War against Terrorism.