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The Czech Republic suffers many of the problems reported in other Central European and Eastern European countries with respect to the care, treatment and prevention of mental ill health. Most psychiatric care is provided in long‐stay hospitals and the transition to a community‐based service has yet to be made. Mental health services suffer from chronic under‐investment and there is a lack of mental health legislation protecting patients' rights and autonomy. The pressures of transition to a capitalist economy have brought their own problems, in the form of increased rates of addicitions, suicide, and other mental health problems related to social, policitical and economic instability, and there is a pressing need to address the position of mental health within public health services.