Abstract
The Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) is a planned action
that aims at providing uniform medical care, especially mental health care and services, to all people worldwide, regardless of
economic status. Because not only the levels of medical care, but also the political and economic situations vary among countries,
it is extremely difficult for a plan to be successfully implemented in every country with standardized methodology, even if
the directionality is ethically correct and ideal. Against this background, authorized personnel provide mental health care activities
across the globe, and they report on activities and promote mutual understanding at the WHO mhGAP Forum, an informal
meeting convened yearly in Geneva. The 5th mhGAP meeting was attended by 48 member states and 58 partner organizations.
From Japan, 5 professionals attended the meeting and presented different viewpoints. Among various policies proposed at the
Forum, one in particular about training and recruiting health professionals for low-income countries has gained a special consensus.
In addition, the importance of training medical professionals who are not specialized in psychiatry and the importance of
developing educational programs for educators were emphasized. It is important for Japan to proactively participate in mhGAP
to contribute to global mental health initiative.
