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Thursday 1 April 2021

Special News--April 2021

 

Global Integration Updates 
Special News--April 2021
Issue 58
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Global Integration Updates
Common Ground for the Common Good 
Be the people we need--Build the world we need

Special News--April 2021
World Health Day--7 April 2021
Building a Fairer, Healthier World


Image: WHO/WHD 2021

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being
and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

WHO Constitution, 1948

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In this Update we rally with people around the world—locally through globally—in support of World Mental Health Day (7 April). Organized annually by the World Health Organization (1950-current), this year’s theme reflects the crucial need for health equity for all: Building a Fairer, Healthier World.
 
We are excited to share several helpful resources from WHO and other organizations. Below you will find info/links to short videos on health topics from around the world (e.g., Rwanda, The Philippines, Iraq), fact sheets on health issues (e.g., air pollution, aging, autism spectrum), upcoming events (e.g., Psychology Day at the UN, World Mental Health Day), etc. We think you will find many items to be of interest and relevance plus ideas for building greater health equity in your settings and spheres of influence.
 
In addition to our compiling this Update, we want to specifically support World Health Day by launching our latest orientation article, 
Global Mental Health: Collaborating for Sustainable Development and Wellbeing (2021). We are delighted to share this new resource with you, with its emphasis on mental health developments and directions, and encourage you to read and share it.

We also continue to include 
Perspectives and Resources for Covid Care (click on previous link to access). These materials have been compiled over the past year to support you, others in your life, and your work. We also acknowledge that there are many views about this pandemic including how best to manage it and future pandemics via science, policy, and public cooperation.

Warm greetings,
Kelly and Michèle

MCAresources@gmail.com

 
--Share your comments and resources on our MCA Facebook page 
--Forward to your colleagues and networks (link to sign up is at the end).


Featured Resources
World Health Day
Building a Fairer, Healthier World



Image: WHO/SDGs

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
United Nations, Sustainable Development Goal 3

Reduce inequality within and among countries
United Nations, Sustainable Development Goal 10

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World Health Day 2021
"On World Health Day, 7 April 2021, we will be inviting you to join a new campaign to build a fairer, healthier world. We’ll be posting more details here shortly, but here’s why we’re doing this:

Our world is an unequal one. As COVID-19 has highlighted, some people are able to live healthier lives and have better access to health services than others - entirely due to the conditions in which they are born, grow, live, work and age. All over the world, some groups struggle to make ends meet with little daily income, have poorer housing conditions and education, fewer employment opportunities, experience greater gender inequality, and have little or no access to safe environments, clean water and air, food security and health services. This leads to unnecessary suffering, avoidable illness, and premature death. And it harms our societies and economies.

 This is not only unfair: it is preventable. That’s why we are calling on leaders to ensure that everyone has living and working conditions that are conducive to good health.  At the same time we urge leaders to monitor health inequities, and to ensure that all people are able to access quality health services when and where they need them.  COVID-19 has hit all countries hard, but its impact has been harshest on those communities which were already vulnerable, who are more exposed to the disease, less likely to have access to quality health care services and more likely to experience adverse consequences as a result of measures implemented to contain the pandemic.

 WHO is committed to ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can realize the right to good health." (quote from website)



WHO Impact Videos
Short videos, usually 1-3 minutes and usually focusing on a specific topic in a specific country. Examples:
--Universal Health Coverage in Rwanda

--Fighting Obesity in The Philippines

--Field Hospitals in Iraq

More Videos
--10 Common Warning Signs of a Mental health ConditionNAMI, USA

--Would You Harbor MeStitching the Unthinkable, Common Threads Project


WHO Fact Sheets
The are over 180 topics--concise and informative. Some examples:
--10  Facts on Aging and Health

--Air Pollution:  Outdoors and Indoors

--Autism Spectrum Disorders

--Depression

--Diabetes

--Headaches

--Violence Against Women


Upcoming Events
--2 April 2021: Inclusion in the Workplace: Challenges and Opportunities in a Post-Pandemic World. World Autism Awareness Day

--15 April 2021: 
Psychological Contributions to Building Back Better in a Post-Pandemic WorldPsychology Day at the United Nations, Psychology Coalition at the United Nations

--10 October 2021: 
Mental Health in an Unequal World
World Mental Health Day, World Federation for Mental Health et al.

--22-24 October 2021: 
Promoting Equity and Justice in an Age of Uncertainty
International Council of Psychologists

--24-26 October 2021: 
World Health Summit



 Featured Article
Global Mental Health: Collaborating for Sustainable Development and Wellbeing (2021). Kelly O'Donnell, Julian Eaton, and Michèle Lewis O'Donnell. A revised version of this article will appear in the forthcoming volume (in press): E.P. Congress, H. Takooshian, & S. Osborn (Eds.), Behavioral Science and Health in the Global Arena. Information Age Publishing. "Mental health is increasingly being recognized for its pivotal role in health, sustainable development, and wellbeing for all people and of the planet. In this chapter we highlight several markers that collectively reflect crucial developments and directions for mental health’s global impact. These comprise events, reports, manuals, campaigns, consortia, etc., and this body of markers represent the culmination of a series of articles over the past 10 years to orient colleagues in mental health and across sectors to the domain of Global Mental Health (GMH) (GMH-Map Project). We organize the markers into 10 areas of engagement for GMH Collaboration and conclude with perspectives on working together into the future."

GMH Defined:
“GMH is a growing domain of study, research, and practice which promotes equitable mental health and wellbeing for all--locally through globally and everything in-between. It is international, interdisciplinary, culturally-relevant, and multi-sectoral; emphasizes the right to health and equity in health; encourages healthy behaviours and lifestyles; is committed to preventing and treating mental, neurological, and substance use conditions (MNS) especially for vulnerable populations (e.g., in settings of poverty, conflict, calamity, and trauma) and in low- and middle-income countries; and seeks to improve policies and programs; professional practices and research; advocacy and awareness; and social, structural, systemic, and environmental factors that affect mental health and wellbeing." (quote from article, bold font added for emphasis)


Image: WHO/WHD 2021



Member Care Associates
MCAresources@gmail.com

 

 
Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit, Christian organization working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations across sectors (e.g., mission, humanitarian, peace, health, and development sectors) as well as global mental health and integrity/anti-corruption, all with a view towards collaboratively supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, resource development, and publications.

 
Global Integration (GI) is a framework for actively and responsibly engaging in our world--locally to globally. It emphasizes connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity, commitments, and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, human rights, faith-based). GI encourages a variety of people to be at the “global tables” and in the "global trenches"--and everything in-between--in order to help research, shape, and monitor agendas, policies, and action for all people and the planet. It intentionally links building the world we need with being the people we need.
 
Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability;
it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God,
and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. 

Martin Luther King, Jr., 
Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 1963)

 
Global Integration Updates
2015-current (50+ issues)
Examples:
Helping the Helpers--October 2017
Everyday Heroes--August 2017
Doomsday--June 2017
Living in Global Integrity--April 2017
Peace and Security--December 2016

Global Citizenship--June 2016
Faith-Based Partners in Transformation--August 2015

 
The GI Updates are designed to help shape and support the emerging diversity of global integrators who as learners-practitioners are committed to the "common ground for the common good." 

The image at the top of the Update (global pearl) is a cover detail from our edited book, 
Global Member Care (volume 2): Crossing Sectors for Serving Humanity (2013). William Carey Library. 
Copyright ©2021
Member Care Associates, Inc.


GI Updates are archived:

http://membercareassociates.org/?page_id=726
 
MCA main website
www.membercareassociates.org

Global Mental Health-Map
https://sites.google.com/site/gmhmap

MCA email:
MCAresources@gmail.com
Thanks for sharing the GI Updates
 with your colleagues and networks.


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Disclaimer: The inclusion of the materials in the GI Updates as well as the recommendations and opinions expressed in these materials do not necessarily reflect their endorsement. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the materials lies with the reader.