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Your Mental Health Matters: In Conversation with Norman Sartorius
November 19, 2020 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Free – $20
About the Speaker: Professor Norman Sartorius was the first Director of the Division of Mental Health of WHO, a position which he held until mid-1993. In June 1993 Professor Sartorius was elected President of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and served as its President until August 1999.
Dr Sartorius obtained his M.D. in Zagreb (Croatia). He specialized in neurology and psychiatry and subsequently obtained a Masters Degree and a Doctorate in psychology (Ph.D.). He has also received honorary doctorates from universities in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Romania, Sweden and the UK and is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is an Honorary member of the Medical Academies in Mexico, Peru and Croatia and a corresponding member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Spanish Royal Medical Academy.
About the Program: The COVID-19 global health crisis illustrates many of the transnational governance challenges the United States faces today. In today’s interconnected world, health has moved beyond being “just” a humanitarian issue to being one with national economic and security interests. Recently, the White House announced that the United States is withdrawing its support for the WHO and will not take part in a global effort led by the WHO to develop and distribute a vaccine for the coronavirus.
In this timely session, Dr. Norman Sartorius will review the history and mandate of the organization and the roles that the USA has played since its inception. He will convey how it benefits the USA to be engaged in the work of the WHO and what is likely to result from its absence both in terms of who will fill those voids and the potential negative outcomes.
Dr. Sartorius will also describe the development of the mental health program of the WHO and the work that he and his successors have done to put mental health on the agenda and to improve the care and treatment of persons with mental illness around the world – a subject closely related to the wide-ranging impact of a global pandemic on all aspects of health.
