Hosted by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

I had an amazing journey to London to participate in the London Model WHO simulation (LonWHO) from the 20^th to 22^nd of October, 2017, hosted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).  I found the event notice on the LSHTM school website. Even though the physical distance from South Korea to London is not exactly next door, only a small mind gap stood between me and this precious opportunity. I hopped across that gap, onto my flight, London bound!

On the first day, 54 delegates coming from different medical and graduate schools in the UK gathered in the LSTHM.  We first got training for the World Health Assembly Simulation on Mental Health, including motions and right of reply, the procedure for proposing plans during moderated and unmoderated caucus, the way to state points of personal privilege/order/parliamentary inquiry, and the use of written notes. Before participating in the simulation, each participant was assigned one role in the simulation, representing the member states of 6 WHO regional offices (WPRO, SEARO, AFRO, AMRO, EURO,  EMRO), 3 media (BBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera), 4 NGOs (Oxfam, ICRC, MSF, Care International), 3 pharmaceutical companies (Astrazeneca, Eli Lilly, Pfizer), UNICEF, and the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation. For member states, there were 11 member states in WPRO/SEARO, 10 member states in AFRO, 10 member states in AMRO, and 11 member states in EMRO/EURO. I was proud to represent my own nation, the member state of Republic of Korea in the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO).

On the second day, WPRO and SEARO gathered together for the regional blocks meeting. Each member state proposed action plans for mental health during moderated and unmoderated caucus. According to the priorities of each member state, top two actions plans were selected by voting and groups were made. Japan, the Republic of  Korea, the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea, and the Philippines had priorities for “dealing with high suicide rates across Asian countries”, whereas the People''s Republic of China, Indonesia, and Malaysia supported “health workforce strengthening for mental health”. To bring these action plans to the plenary session on the 22^nd, sponsor countries had to get support from at least one pharmaceutical company, two votes from NGOs, UNICEF, Bill and Melina Gates, and three signatures from other member states. Since each pharmaceutical company could support one theme, and the NGOs and others had the rights to vote for two themes, only six selected resolution papers could be on the plenary session. As a delegate of the Republic of Korea, I proposed promoting the deinstitutionalization of patients, efforts to reduce social stigma against mental illness, the protection and monitoring of the patients'' human and labor rights, the necessity of investment in R&D, improving the quality, safety, supply and distribution of mental health medicines, enhancing internet-based health (e-health) and mobile-based health (m-health) services for mental health, advocating human rights and voluntary hospitalization, support and analysis of the social determinants of mental health, and empowering the voices of vulnerable people – those who live in fragile and non-humanitarian settings. Among the many proposals made during the regional blocks, I voted for “dealing with high suicide rates across Asian countries”, reflecting the fact that Korea’s suicide rate has remained the highest among OECD nations for 10 consecutive years.

On the third day, 6 resolution papers were introduced, and amendments were made through discussions and voting by member states in the plenary session. It was very interesting to add, edit, or delete some resolutions. Finally, consensual amendments were made on all resolution papers through a long discussion. The last session on the third day was the awards ceremony. Thankfully, I received the award of “Best Regional Position Paper” for my research on the mental health issues in the Republic of Korea, and my proposals on policies and action plans as a delegate of the member state of Republic of Korea to the World Health Organization.

One of the beauties of the LonWHO simulation was that “WE” led this simulation from the beginning to the end, and “WE” raised our voices for public health – on mental health in particular – through research and enthusiastic discussions and debates. It was my privilege to discuss with the students from the LSHTM and other medical schools in the UK. Looking back through my life, whenever I felt that things were not going well, or felt weak about myself, the power that made me stand up again had always been from people surrounding me. Whenever I asked myself which point I was on the pathway to my dream, lessons often came to my ears and heart from my dear friends, team members, teachers, etc. Though it might take a long time to become the person that I wanted to be, to achieve what I wanted to achieve, I believe that the days will come. With years of experience and learning which shall form the solid base of myself, I hope I can be more sincere and have deeper compassion for people. I hope I can speak out not just for my interests and knowledge, but for humanity. No matter how many reports and articles I read, and how familiar I become with numbers and statistics, I hope that I can see the hands of the people in need reaching through the numbers and dots on paper, and I wish to share my own hands with them.