The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic (MZ SR) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) organized this week a conference entitled "The Political Dialogue of the Slovak Republic and the Netherlands on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support for People with Experience of Mental Disease"" (Policy Dialogue of the Slovak Republic and the Netherlands). This major event took place between 18 and 20 September 2023. It was attended by renowned Dutch experts (psychiater and consultant of the Ministry of Justice of the Netherlands in forensic psychiatry, psychiatrist and expert on the transition to community care, leading manager of nursing in forensic psychiatry and two repatriation experts) who shared their expertise and experience with Slovak mental health experts in several discussions on the progress, implementation and direction of the current mental health reform in Slovakia.
I am proud that together with the World Health Organisation and the Netherlands we have initiated a precious cooperation on the implementation of forensic and community psychiatric care. This is of fundamental importance to our citizens, especially if we want to achieve the highest possible standards of mental health care. The Netherlands has a long history of providing high quality mental health care to its citizens, and we believe that we can gain much from sharing their experience. On the other hand, Slovakia has its own unique challenges and prospects that can contribute to this cooperation. The sharing of knowledge and experience will enable us to achieve better results in the field of mental health, and said in the opening speech of the conference State Secretary MZ SR Monika Jankechová.
The representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the Slovak Republic Tatul Hakobyan and the Regional Mental Health Advisor at the WHO Regional Office for Europe Ledia Lazeri, who referred to international strategic documents and focused on emphasising that mental health needs are evolving, as well as access to mental health, which implies the need for the reconstruction of a mental health approach in our society in line with the requirement of respect for human rights and the provision of psychosocial support for people with mental illness. These reflect the main messages of the WHO Initiatives for equal rights in designing, providing and further expanding services for the most vulnerable.

Mental health is an integral part of human health, it concerns and can affect everyone, regardless of age and social background. The subject of mental health in our society has significantly resonated in the context of the Pandemic of COVID-19 and its consequences, but mental health is also affected by the consequences of the war in Ukraine or the economic burden of the recent financial and energy crisis.
The subject of psychiatric care in the context of mental health care is currently extremely important, not only in our country but also in the context of the global situation and recommendations of the World Health Organisation. Together, we have seen that psychiatric care in the Slovak Republic has not undergone a more fundamental modernisation for several decades. This puts us in a situation where we are significantly lagging behind more advanced countries in terms of financing mental health care. Unfortunately, the provided health and social care in the field of mental health in Slovakia is often unavailable, and the current situation has been evaluated by the Director General of the Health Section of the Slovak Republic Peter Čvapek.
Following the adoption of the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic, which also includes a component aimed at achieving human, modern and accessible mental health care, the Slovak Ministry of Health, on the initiative of mental health professionals, has set out to implement a reform of mental health care, which aims to increase the quality of institutional psychiatric care provided in several aspects of it, in accordance with the latest trends, recommendations of mental health professionals and the requirements of the European Union and to build a network of outpatient facilities for community psychiatric care, so-called psychosocial centres, in order to ensure adequate health and social care for long-term ill patients, especially in their natural environment by a mobile team, and thus improve their quality of life.
In addition to the area of community psychiatric care, another important topic of the conference was the area of forensic psychiatric care and thus the implementation of protective treatment ordered by the courts of persons with mental illness committing criminal activity.
During their stay in Slovakia, Dutch experts also had the opportunity to visit the health care facilities providing psychiatric care - Psychiatric clinic of the University Hospital of the Old City, Psychiatric hospital of Hronovce, Hronovce Detention Institute and Psychiatric hospital of Philipp Pinela Pezinok - and to have discussions with Slovak mental health experts directly in these facilities, which enriched the exchange of experience and deepened the establishment of mutual cooperation between our countries.
Through the presentation of prospective mental health practices and policies, including community psychiatry and forensic psychiatry, the event has made a significant contribution to explaining how mental health needs affect the requirements for the provision and development of forensic psychiatry, but also follow-up and support services, and how we can better adapt to the evolving needs of vulnerable persons to whom our assistance needs address.