THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE WILL ATTEND THE GLOBAL MINISTERIAL MENTAL HEALTH SUMMIT
County Hall, London
Tuesday 9th October, 2018
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend the first Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit on Tuesday 9th October. The summit is being co-hosted by the UK Government and the OECD and will run from the 9th-10th October.
The Mental Health Summit will see political figures, leading academics and policy-makers from around the world come together with one common goal: better mental health for all. The meeting will help countries work together to deal with stigma attached to mental health and address other issues to do with mental ill-health.
Around 1 in 4 people globally will experience a mental health problem at some point in their life, with around 450 million people currently living with a diagnosed mental ill-health condition. Mental illness is also the biggest cause of lost economic output, with an estimated cost to the global community of nearly US$2.5 trillion a year.
Their Royal Highnesses will attend a workstream on ‘Children, Young People and the Next Generation’ where they will hear presentations on two case studies of active mental health programmes from Slovenia and the USA. This workstream reflects one of the six key themes being discussed at the summit.
The Duke and Duchess will also visit the exhibition area and meet with representatives from a number of organisations to hear more about their mental health campaigns and programmes. Their Royal Highnesses will also view the work of Dairo Vargas, a contemporary fine artist from Columbia who will be painting an original piece of art at the Summit, inspired by the day’s events.
Finally Their Royal Highnesses will visit a Friendship Bench, part of an innovative programme from Zimbabwe which has taught elderly Zimbabwean women the skills to become city lay health workers.
