MENTAL HEALTH BULLETIN

Launch of the "Mental health care and psychosocial support in emergencies package"

Awareness of the importance of mental health care and psychosocial support during emergencies, whether caused by complex humanitarian crises, natural disasters or epidemics, has clearly increased in recent years. Many organizations and governments in the Region of the Americas have developed interventions to give response to these events.

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Mexico - Technical support to Yucatán for developing suicide prevention plan

Mérida, March 21-23. - The Governor of Yucatán, Mr. Rolando Zapata Bello, officially inaugurated the “Live happy, live healthily” campaign for good mental health, marking the beginning of a workshop for the elaboration of the State’s "Suicide prevention and management strategic plan." PAHO/WHO Office in Mexico was represented by Dr. Enrique Gil. According to figures from the State’s Death System, suicide in Yucatán has increased significantly during the last 13 years. 

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Jamaica - Addressing adolescent mental health, alcohol and substance use in the Caribbean

This two-day capacity building and strategic planning workshop (April 25-26) was organized in a collaborative effort between PAHO/WHO’s Mental Health and Substance Use Unit, from the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, and the Healthy Life Course Unit, from the Family, Gender and Life Course Department. 

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Peru - PAHO Mission in Piura: Strengthening the psychosocial and mental health response

In the context of the emergency in the area, a coordination meeting on the mental health plan for shelters in Piura was held on May 9. Representatives of the Ministry of Health, the Regional Health Authority (Diresa Piura), DEVIDA, the Manantial Foundation, and PAHO/WHO participated in the meeting. 

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Mental health services user associations and their families meet in Peru

The meeting, held in Lima May 10-12, was inaugurated by Dr. Andrea Bruni, Subregional Advisor on Mental Health and Substance Use; Dr. Carlos Bromley, a psychiatrist from the Mental Health Department of the Ministry of Health, was also present. Representatives from Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador and Peru participated in the event.

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Mexico – Round table on alcohol marketing regulation 

Mexico City, May 17.- Nearly 80 experts, including representatives of the media, attended the round table "Alcohol marketing regulation: from research to public health policy", organized by the National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz (INPRFM), PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center. The coordination was in charge of Mg. Guillermina Natera Rey, Head of INPRFM´s PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center.

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Subregional workshop on alcohol legislation in Central America and the Dominican Republic

A technical workshop on the status and prospects of alcohol legislation in Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama) and the Dominican Republic took place May 23-25. Agents responsible for alcohol and non-communicable diseases from these countries’ ministries of health and social insurance funds, as well as lawyers from the ministries involved in the elaboration of health legislation participated in the event. Also participating were Dr. Julio Valdés, Executive Secretary of the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America and Dominican Republic, COMISCA, and other members of his team; Mr. Oscar Cabrera from Washington D.C.'s O'Neill Institute; and PAHO/WHO advisors, Dr. Maristela Monteiro, Senior Advisor on Alcohol, Dr. Ignacio Ibarra, Regional Advisor on Health Legislation, and Dr. Carmen Martínez Viciana, Mental Health Subregional Advisor for Central America and the Latin Caribbean.

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Canada - Mental health as a public health issue in the Region of the Americas 

Halifax, 6-8 June. -  At the Canadian Public Health Association Conference - CPHA 2017, the Pan American Health Organization conducted a session to review global and regional perspectives and experiences on addressing mental health and wellness and to examine how mental health has been integrated into primary health care in the Region. This session was chaired by Dr. Isabella Danel, PAHO/WHO Deputy Director. 

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Webinar - Brief interventions on alcohol consumption in pregnancy: an experience in Argentina

On June 2, Dr. Aldana Lichtenberger, from Argentina, organized an online seminar on the management of alcohol consumption in pregnancy. Dr., Lichtenberger, described the consequences of prenatal exposure to alcohol (FAS-FASD) and the prevalence of alcohol consumption during pregnancy in the country. She then considered screening and brief interventions (BI) to promote abstinence in this particular population and presented the preliminary results of the effectiveness of BIs in prenatal care services in Argentina.

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The Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI)

Globally, over 1 billion people do not have access to adequate health care. As overwhelming as this seems, there is an abundance of grass roots solutions that have successfully been implemented by passionate change-makers across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

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PUBLICATIONS - COURSES – CONFERENCES

World Psychiatric Association´s new digital Ibero-American Library 

It is an innovative project approved by the Executive Committee of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) combining in a single website psychiatry and mental health magazines and publications of participating countries and organizations, published in Spanish in digital version, and permanently updated.

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Links
•Bulletin INEBRIA Latina 
•mhGAP Newsletter 
•website-dedicated-to-youth-mental-health 

Social Media
•www.facebook.com/PAHOdisasters 
•www.twitter.com/PAHOdisasters

Credits

 Editorial Committee: Dévora Kestel, Claudina Cayetano, Maristela Monteiro, Luis Alfonzo, Armando Vasquez, Andrea Bruni, Carmen Martinez, Maria Florencia Di Masi and Martha Koev.

 PAHO’s Mental Health Bulletin is published bimonthly in English and Spanish.

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