Современная мировая психиатрия Rachel Jenkins Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, De Crespigny Park, London How to convince politicians that mental health is a priority Politicians, especially ministers of health, are crucial to drive national policy and strategy, because they can bring political will to bear on decision making, speed up decision making, and steer decisions in a specifi c direction. <...> Therefore it is important to persuade politicians that mental health should be a priority. <...> Similarly, it is helpful for the minister to facilitate liaison between health and other relevant sectors (e.g., education, social welfare, criminal justice), so that mental health is appropriately integrated with each of their strategic plans [1, 2]. <...> Within the health sector itself, it is likely to be better for population health outcomes to focus on integrating mental health into the general health system rather than seeking a parallel vertical funding and delivery system [3], in the light of growing evidence that other well-funded vertical programmes for communicable diseases have often weakened health systems’ capacity to address broader health needs [4]. <...> Challenges to infl uencing politicians Politicians are not necessarily health professionals, let alone mental health professionals, and do not have detailed knowledge of mental health issues. <...> This is often a good way of briefi ng politicians, as they will need their speeches to be drafted and these can be used to set out the arguments for priority status. «Психиатрия, психотерапия и клиническая психология» № 4 (14), 2013 147 How to convince politicians that mental health is a priority What arguments can be used? <...> The general arguments used to try and persuade politicians are that mental illness is common, disabling, accompanied by signifi cant physical illness and mortality [5–8], that eff ective interventions are available, and that it is important to address the human rights of people with mental illness. <...> If these arguments were enough to persuade politicians, mental health would have long been a major priority in all countries, as the evidence <...>