The members of the Argentinean Psychiatrists Association, as professionals and citizens, aware of the necessary social changes in our country,
CONSIDERING THAT
- The public Mental Health system is mainly supported by the efforts made by professionals and experts in the field in view of the deterioration of the public resources assigned to health, and to mental health in particular.
- The working conditions of health professionals are increasingly critical, both in social security and private sectors.
- Opportunely, organizations declarations were made and international meetings were held (Caracas Declaration, 1990; Montevideo Declaration; Brasilia Principles, 2005), as well as some guiding principles were stated by the 2001 Mental Health Report of the World Health Organization, among others, aimed at endorsing the renovation paths, and protecting and preserving the human rights of the people with mental illness and their families.
- Currently, public Health policies are being revised worldwide, given that the gap between the mental health needs of the population and the deficient way in which the government and institutions are addressing those needs has widened.
- The Government must guarantee Public Health to all the inhabitants of Argentina, who must enjoy their inalienable right to health.
- It is impossible to ignore in the current context of knowledge that the mental health of a population is determined by the conditions of housing, nutrition, work, education, worthy income, justice, freedom and information.
- Over the last years, experiences of change in care modality have been developed in our country through institutional transformation processes in order to reform psychiatric and Mental Health care.
WE PROCLAIM and sustain the following principles that state our adherence to the ethical foundations of Public Health defense, professional role, and the social commitment that supports and drives our entity:
- Effective establishment of worthy, universal and free Public Health, considered as a right for all citizens.
- Orientation of the resources, care and treatments provided in the field of mental health which guarantees personal dignity, and human and civil rights for all patients and their families.
- Strengthening the approach to multidisciplinary work in the field of Mental Health.
- Establishing and respecting healthy working conditions and fair remuneration for all Mental Health professionals, whether they work in public or private institutions.
- Providing adequate budgets for public institutions in the field of Mental Health and Health in general.
- University education reform, both graduate and postgraduate, which adapts the professional training in Mental Health to the national sanitary needs.
- Developing active sanitary policies in the field of Mental Health on prevention, social reinsertion and rehabilitation; and creating disaster response teams. Establishing a mass media policy designed to provide accurate information at the service of the community health.
- Formulating a national drug policy, according to the concept of “drug as social well-being”.
- Fostering research, teaching and professional training at work, respecting plurality and freedom of thought, expression and criticism, in order to meet the health needs of the population.
- Effective formulation of national and provincial Mental Health laws that reflect these criteria, properly respecting the professionals´ powers and obligations.
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