Humanity Care: UPGs and SDGs 2

Mental Health and Non-Communicable Diseases 

Applications for the
Church-Mission Community and Unreached People Groups
(MH/NCDs--CMC/UPGs)
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There is a new advocacy article on mental health that Kelly has co-authored. It was written for the general public to better understand how mental health is linked to the physical non-communicable diseases (NCDs)--e.g., cancer, diabetes, respiratory, cardio-vascular, and the impact of unhealthy nutrition/diet, obesity, inactivity, harmful use of alcohol, tobacco, etc. The article is directly related to SDG 3.4: “By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.”  United Nations, Sustainable Development Goal 3.4

  

Linking Mental Health and the NCD Alliance Campaign Priorities
for the 2018 United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs

The article just went on the website for the NCD Alliance’s Enough Campaign—“Our health. Our right. Right now.”. This major, global Campaign is bringing together the voices of hundreds of organizations, calling governments to fulfill their commitments to prevent and treat NCDs and doing so en route to the third High-Level Meeting on NCDs to be held at the UN New York this September. We have been tracking with the global efforts to prevent and treat NCDs for seven years (e.g., see Kelly’s summary of his time at the first NCD High Level Meeting on NCDs at the UN, CORE Member Care, 30 September 2011).  

We think MH-NCDs is especially relevant for the mission of the global-local Church e.g. (mental health as mission). We also see major applications for those working with Unreached People Groups (UPGs). See below for more information and perspectives oriented for the Church-Mission Community (CMC). Please do feel free share with others!

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Linking Mental Health/NCDs and UPGs
Opportunities for the Church-Mission Community
Mental health as mission--What are we waiting for?

“Take special note that approximately 80% of the [estimated 40 million annual] deaths from NCDs occur among people in low-middle income countries (LMICs). I hasten to add that many of the world’s poor live in LMICs and are in fact part of people groups that lack a viable Christian presence [Unreached People Groups, Least-Reached People Groups].” Kelly O’Donnell, Finding our Global Integration Voices, CORE Member Care (30 September 2011).

“By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.”  United Nations, Sustainable Development Goal 3.4

Presenting a New Advocacy Article for Mental Health

Linking Mental Health and the NCD Alliance Campaign Priorities for the 2018 United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs is a new advocacy article, authored by Julian Eaton, Kelly O’Donnell, Lucy Westerman, and Fiona Adshead. Here is the summary: “Mental health conditions are one of the major groups of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) with crucial relevance in efforts to control and prevent NCDs. Mental health also has links to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and other physical NCDs. By considering mental ill health and other NCDs together, we can improve the lives of people affected by NCDs worldwide, and guide advocacy at global, regional and national level for strong commitments at the September 2018 UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs.”

The piece was done in association with the NCD Alliance, the World Federation for Mental Health, and the Mental Health Innovation Network. It was just posted on the NCD Alliance’s website (Enough Campaign) and is already making its rounds far and wide. This short piece contains many infographics and six key messages for action in order to quickly orient you to mental health and NCD issues and indeed the NCD epidemic.

Increasing Relevance for the Church-Mission Community and UPGs

The Church-Mission Community (CMC) has a vast number of local members/ministries around the world that are in strategic places to potentially help those with mental conditions and promote mental wellbeing. Mental health as mission is a viable albeit overlooked component of sharing the good news and good works—mission strategy. Here are two quotes that shine light on opportunities for the increased engagement by the CMC in mental health/NCDs, especially among Unreached People Groups (UPGs).

“NCDs can affect you and me and our loved ones. And they can and do affect mission/aid workers and certainly the people with whom they work. Understanding and preventing NCDs and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices should be a core part of the member care that we provide in mission/aid and in any global health efforts…”

“Take special note that approximately 80% of the [estimated 40 million annual] deaths from NCDs occur among people in low-middle income countries (LMICs). I hasten to add that many of the world’s poor live in LMICs and are in fact part of people groups that lack a viable Christian presence (UPGs, LPGs). Who are the people and organizations that are explicitly talking about the epidemic of NCDs in terms of people groups and Christian witness/responsibility? Or for that matter who is addressing the massive untreated mental health disorders in LMICs in view of Christian witness/responsibility? There is a huge opportunity for the church-mission community to confront the NCD epidemic as part of our commitment to bring love and healing to the peoples of the earth.” Kelly O’Donnell, Finding our Global Integration Voices, CORE Member Care (30 September 2011)

Mental Health as Mission: Resources for the CMC

-- New Global Member Care Model: February 2017
--Psychological First Aid: August 2016

--Global Mental Health as Mission–Overview and Opportunities: April 2016

--Migrant Care–Hospitality for Humanity: October 2015

-- Trauma: July 2015

-- Creative Tools for Healing: October 2014

-- Doing Mental Health Well: May 2014

--Mental Health and Psychosocial Support: September 2013
-- Mental Health as Mission: September 2012

Global Integrators--15

Global Innovators

Making Important and Sustainable Differences 

“We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, 
we pledge that no one will be left behind.“
Transforming Our World: The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

(United Nations, Preamble, 1 August 2015)

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

(note that the word “innovation” appears 20 times in this document)

First World Problems, Weird Al Yankovic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwvlbJ0h35A

Lyrics:

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/w/weird_al_yankovic/first_world_problems.html#!

We think that the time is coming for a diversity of colleagues to come together intentionally, visibly, and practically on behalf of global integration (GI). GI put simply is how we skillfully integrate our lives and values on behalf of the issues facing humanity. Likewise we think that the time is coming for colleagues to carefully reflect and act on what it means to be good global learners-practitioners--to seriously consider what it means to be what we are calling global integrators (GI-People).

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This entry highlights the need for important innovations to really make a sustainable difference in the plethora of the world’s great problems and the world’s vulnerable people. Specifically, we offer some ideas on personal qualities that can help people like you and me make a difference in our world as global innovators who are helping to build the future we want and wanting to be the people we need. Many of these characteristics overlap with the material in previous entries and can also be understood as commitments. I find them to be especially relevant for the UN’s transformative agenda for sustainable development, with its five overlapping areas of people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnerships—to which I unswervingly add a sixth crucial area: probity (i.e. virtue, integrity, adherence to the highest principles).  As with many of these entries, this current entry on global innovators is still a work in progress!

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Some Characteristics of Global Innovators

1. Not content with the status quo
--Not business as usual
--Leave no one behind
--Transformation at all levels, from the personal to the macro systemic
**Example: Peoples Health Movement (PHM)  http://www.phmovement.org/

“The PHM is a global network bringing together grassroots health activists, civil society organizations and academic institutions from around the world, particularly from low and middle income countries...We currently have a presence in around 70 countries. Guided by the People’s Charter for Health (PCH), PHM works on various programmes and activities and is committed to Comprehensive Primary Health Care and addressing the Social, Environmental and Economic Determinants of Health. The world is facing a global health crisis characterized by growing inequities within and among nations and millions of preventable deaths, especially among the poor. These are in large degree due to unfair economic structures which lock people into poverty and poor health. In 2000, concerned activists, academics and health workers got together for the first People’s Health Assembly. The People’s Charter for Health (PCH), our founding document was developed and PHM was born.” 

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2.  Making a difference

--Low and middle income countries and colleagues
--Vulnerable people
--Focus on the big stuff
**Example: MHIN/Grand Challenges Canada
http://www.grandchallenges.ca/

“What is a Grand Challenge? A grand challenge is a specific critical barrier that, if removed, would help solve an important health problem in the developing world, with a high likelihood of global impact through widespread implementation….Historically, some of the greatest impacts in global health were from innovators who tried out bold ideas. The discovery of vaccines over 200 years ago and of antibiotics in the last century are classic examples of unorthodox thinking that resulted from bold ideas that have had big impact and saved millions of lives…” 

3. Awareness of the global context

--Staying current with global events, issues, reports, etc.
--Understanding the multi-faceted nature of most major issues
--Pursuing inter-sectoral involvement
**Example: Understanding the Current Global Context, Global Integration Update, Member Care Associates, April 2015
http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e83a5528fb81b78be71f78079&id=18cf5092dc

“How are we doing as a world community? How can we better understand current efforts to promote wellbeing for all? Here are five current materials to help us explore these important questions. The first four materials are reports that overview the state of world's development (items 1-3) and peacebuilding (item 4). We encourage you to take the time to at least read the overviews/summaries and to make some notes/applications as you do so. We have gone over these items many times (and with several colleagues) in order to grasp the content, new terms, and implications for our world, our work, and our lives…”

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4. Ethical Imperatives for the common good

--Personal responsibility with moral courage
--Sense of urgency
--Contempt for evil
**Example: Laudato Si’: On the Care of our Common Home, Pope Francis (May 2015) https://laudatosi.com/watch

“158. In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters. This option entails recognizing the implications of the universal destination of the world’s goods, but…it demands before all else an appreciation of the immense dignity of the poor in the light of our deepest convictions as believers. We need only look around us to see that, today, this option is in fact an ethical imperative essential for effectively attaining the common good."

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5. Mentality and Lifestyles

--A way of thinking
--A way of being
--A way of relating
**Example:  See the opening music video, First World Problems…and avoiding consumerism, corruption, complacency, etc.

6. Working together

--Finding common ground
--Building a professional community
--Connecting and contributing
**Example: Mental Health Innovation Network
http://mhinnovation.net/

“We’re a community of mental health innovators - researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, service user advocates, and donors from around the world - sharing innovative resources and ideas to promote mental health and improve the lives of people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders.”

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7. Etc.: funding, organizational and governmental backing, perseverance, creativity....
**Examples: Forces for Good (nonprofit organizations), How to Change the World (social entrepreneurs), A Path Appears...

Finally, and pulling some of these ideas together, watch the trailer for the film A Path Appears:
http://apathappears.org/film/