Toolkit launched to stop abuse of people with mental health conditions
Listen /
Toolkit considered essential to ending abuse of mental health patients
A toolkit to help countries stop the abuse of people with mental health conditions has been launched by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to WHO, violations of the rights of people with mental conditions include overcrowding and unhygienic living conditions, violence, abuse, harmful treatment and neglect.
The agency says the Quality Rights Tool Kit aims to ensure that quality care and human rights standards are put in place in mental health and social care facilities around the world.
Many people, it adds, are locked up against their will, overmedicated, put in seclusion cells or restrained sometimes for years.
Dr Michelle Funk of the WHO's department of mental health says all countries can benefit from the Quality Rights Tool Kit.
"It's a toolkit that can be applied in low, middle and high income countries, that is, all facilities in all countries whether rich or poor should meet these standards. It can be implemented in both inpatient and outpatient facilities. And, finally it allows for comparison between mental health and general healthcare services. And often we see that general health services tend to be of high quality than mental health services but for the first time we will be able to measure this." (Duration: 31")
