People Centred mental health care. The interplay between the individual perspective and the broader health care context

The three Editorials published in this issue of EPS examine the implications of recent mental health care developments emerging from the World Health Organization Policy Framework “People-Centred Health Care” (WHO, 2007), five years after its promulgation. The framework stated that health must be viewed in a broader context, with all stakeholders involved, as it is influenced by a complex interplay of physical, social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors. The Policy Framework therefore re-established the core value of all people’s health and well-being as the central goal of healthcare services. It also acknowledged the global challenges of: translating principles and goals, such as equity and fairness, into policies; developing health care programmes that are firmly grounded in ethical principles; ensuring quality of health care, patient safety, and human dignity; safeguarding patients’ rights and needs, recognising the key role of families, culture and society as broader psychosocial and cultural determinants of health; and upholding ethics related to medical practice, research, and education