[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2752 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2752

 To authorize the President to award grants to improve the capacity of 
 nongovernmental organizations and individuals in foreign countries to 
provide appropriate mental disability and mental trauma care training, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 2008

 Mr. Smith (for himself and Mr. Durbin) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize the President to award grants to improve the capacity of 
 nongovernmental organizations and individuals in foreign countries to 
provide appropriate mental disability and mental trauma care training, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``International Mental Disability and 
Mental Trauma Care Improvement Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to promote the capacity of recipient 
nongovernmental organizations to provide appropriate mental disability 
and mental trauma care training for providers on a national, regional, 
and local level abroad.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The efforts of the United States to promote democracy 
        and human rights abroad must include vigorous efforts to 
        improve treatment of those with mental disabilities and mental 
        trauma.
            (2) The World Health Report 2001, published by the World 
        Health Organization, reported that approximately 450,000,000 
        people worldwide experience a mental disorder.
            (3) War, conflict, and dictatorial regimes around the world 
        have also created tens of thousands of victims of violence, 
        rape, torture, and forced relocation who suffer from mental 
        trauma.
            (4) Mental disability and mental trauma care resources are 
        sufficiently scarce in developed and developing countries that 
        national care giving practices are often antiquated and 
        underfunded.
            (5) The World Health Organization reports that--
                    (A) about 50 percent of mental disorders begin 
                before the sufferer reaches 14 years of age;
                    (B) about 20 percent of the children and 
                adolescents of the world are estimated to have a mental 
                disorder; and
                    (C) regions of the world in which a high percentage 
                of the population is under 19 years of age have the 
                lowest amount of mental disability care resources.
            (6) There is tremendous inequity in the worldwide 
        distribution of skilled human resources for mental disability 
        and mental trauma care. A shortage of psychiatrists, 
        psychiatric nurses, psychologists, and social workers continues 
        to be a significant barrier to the provision of treatment and 
        care in low- and middle-income countries.
            (7) In much of the world, there are immense obstacles to 
        full participation in society by people who suffer from a 
        mental disability or have experienced mental trauma.
            (8) The World Health Organization reports that stigma about 
        mental disorders and discrimination against patients and 
        families can prevent people from seeking care.
            (9) Social stigma and a lack of resources can often result 
        in the inappropriate institutionalization and effective 
        segregation from society of large numbers of people with mental 
        disabilities or mental trauma, often under appalling 
        conditions.
            (10) Such inappropriate institutionalization does not 
        represent ``best-practice'' mental disability and mental trauma 
        care methods and is often an unacceptable violation of human 
        rights standards.

SEC. 4. MENTAL DISABILITY AND MENTAL TRAUMA CARE QUALITY AND CAPACITY 
              IMPROVEMENT GRANTS.

    Chapter 1 of Part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 104C the 
following:

``SEC. 104D. ASSISTANCE TO IMPROVE MENTAL DISABILITY AND MENTAL TRAUMA 
              CARE.

    ``(a) Grants to Nongovernmental Organizations and Individuals 
Specializing in Mental Disability and Mental Trauma Treatment, 
Training, Policy, and Research.--
            ``(1) Grants authorized.--The President is authorized to 
        award grants to nongovernmental organizations (including faith-
        based and community-based organizations) and individuals--
                    ``(A) to provide training, advice, and technical 
                expertise for foreign governments in the adoption of a 
                national mental disability and mental trauma care 
                framework;
                    ``(B) to initiate system reform and improve 
                treatment options, access to, and quality of mental 
                disability and mental trauma care;
                    ``(C) to provide training for governmental, 
                nongovernmental, professional, community, peer, and 
                family mental disability and mental trauma care 
                providers; or
                    ``(D) to provide direct, short-term emergency 
                mental trauma assistance for the victims of 
                humanitarian or political crises.
            ``(2) Eligibility.--To the maximum extent practicable, 
        amounts shall be provided to applicants that--
                    ``(A) have a proven record of providing mental 
                disability and mental trauma technical advice, 
                emergency care, or support, whether directly or through 
                linkages with other programs; and
                    ``(B) employ recognized and evidence-based best 
                practices for assisting individuals with mental 
                disability conditions.
            ``(3) Application.--Each organization desiring a grant 
        under this section shall submit an application to the President 
        at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such 
        information and assurances as the President may require.
    ``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the President for the purposes of this section, in 
addition to funds otherwise available for such purposes, not less than 
$10,000,000 for the fiscal year 2009 and each subsequent fiscal year, 
to be made available through the Secretary of State, acting through the 
Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development.''.

SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT ON THE CONDITION OF MENTAL DISABILITY AND MENTAL 
              TRAUMA CARE.

    Section 116(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2151b-2(d)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (10), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (11), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(12) wherever applicable, mental disability and mental 
        trauma care practices in countries receiving assistance under 
        section 104D and in all other foreign jurisdictions, 
        including--
                    ``(A) the extent of contact of mental disability 
                and mental trauma care patients with their home 
                communities;
                    ``(B) the freedom granted mental disability and 
                mental trauma care patients to socialize with each 
                other and with nonpatients;
                    ``(C) the national government's record of forced 
                institutionalization, and the review process for 
                institutionalized mental disability and mental trauma 
                care patients;
                    ``(D) the average ratio between patients and staff;
                    ``(E) the employment of evaluation and follow up of 
                treatment efficacy;
                    ``(F) the national spending on mental disability 
                and mental trauma care;
                    ``(G) activities implemented or improved that 
                address the provision of services for mental disability 
                and mental trauma conditions; and
                    ``(H) the inclusion of mental disability and mental 
                trauma care into the public health agenda and national 
                health plans and programs.''.
                                 <all>