Dear Mr Medawar,

    Thank you for your FAX of 18 November. Regarding the various information requested, I would firstly like to inform you that the three NGOs having a close relationship with WHO's Division of Mental Health, have been the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), the World Federation of Mental Health (WFMH) and the World Federation of Neurology (WFN).

    During my term as Director of the Division of Mental Health, no financial support has been received from any of the above three NGOs. There is, however, agreements of collaboration, with Dr Prilipko (of this Division) being the liaison officer with WFN and Dr Bertholote (of this Division) being the liaison officer with the other two. I am mailing to you a copy of the programme of work for WPA.

    Regarding the three particular points you made:

1. As I have already mentioned above, there has been no financial contribution from WPA to WHO, collaboration being in the form of the programme of work being mailed to you.
2. This formal collaborative agreement is the same as mentioned under point (1) above.
3. The only document is the one already mentioned. However, I know that Dr Sartorius and Dr Lopez-Ibor, President-elect of the WPA, recently visited Dr Brundtland and made some verbal commitment for specific collaboration, but I am not aware of the contents of this discussion. In relation to the WPA task force, I am not aware of any such task force as, since I started as Director of the Division of Mental Health, I stepped down from all my activities in the WPA, only participating in its World Congress or Regional Symposium in a scientific capacity. My position as past president of the World Psychiatric Association has had no influence in WHO and, as I said before, I keep my activities totally separate from WPA activities.

On a final note, I would like to inform you that I am leaving the Organization on a WHO secondment to New York University Medical School (WHO Collaborating Centre) for the last year of my contract and, as of two weeks ago, I have had no further responsibility or authority in the Mental Health Programme of WHO. The Acting Director of Mental Health in WHO/HQ is Dr Rex Billington.

I hope I have responded to all your questions but, if you feel it would be useful, I would be pleased to talk to you on the telephone and meet you on a future occasion, and I hope to find a way so that in the future we can work together for better mental health in the world, with more respect for human rights of mental patients and a more ethical, scientific and public-health oriented approach to mental health in the world.

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