MENTAL HEALTH BULLETIN

Dominican Republic - Dr. Benedetto Saraceno supports mental health care reform process
 
Santo Domingo, December 1-8, 2018. - Dr. Benedetto Saraceno, former Director of WHO's Department of Mental Health and current Secretary General of the Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health, visited the Dominican Republic within the framework of a PAHO/WHO technical cooperation project for the Caribbean countries aimed at strengthening governance and advocacy in mental health.

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School mental health literacy program training in Belize
 
Belize City, December 4-6, 2018. - Mental health conditions account for 16% of the global burden of disease in people aged 10-19 years. Half of all mental health conditions begin by 14 years of age, but most cases are undetected and untreated. Interventions to promote adolescents’ mental health aim to strengthen protective factors and encourage alternatives to risk-taking behaviors. Promotion of mental health and well-being help adolescents to build resilience and cope well in difficult situations or adversities. 

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Peru - The Ombudsman's Office report on the community care model implementation 
 
Lima, December 26, 2018. - This report was presented to show the results of the Ombudsman's supervision in 122 mental health facilities and services in 25 regions of Peru, performed between June and September 2016, and to offer recommendations to the Congress of the Republic, the Ministry of Health, as well as to mental health personnel.

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Mexico - Meeting on alcohol strategies
 
Mexico City, January 23. - The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Country Office in Mexico, in coordination with Dr. Maristela Monteiro, Senior Advisor on Alcohol, organized the first national meeting on alcohol, with the participation of civil society organizations, public and mental health specialists, the academy and other institutions concerned about alcohol consumption. The objective pursued was to discuss a joint social mobilization strategy for promoting effective political actions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol in Mexico.

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USA - Regional meeting on rehabilitation data

Bethesda, Maryland, January 15-16. - The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) co-hosted a two-day meeting to discuss rehabilitation data in the Americas.  Around 40 participants, including ministries of health, from Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica and Panama, as well as WHO collaborating centers, academia and non-governmental actors, took part in the meeting. 
 
During the two-day course, participants developed a set of recommendations for rehabilitation data collection, integration and analysis. A working group is likely to be formed in the coming months, which will connect with more global initiatives on the subject. A meeting report will be disseminated.
 
For more information please contact Antony Duttine: duttineant@paho.org

British Virgin Islands: Mental health and psychosocial support in disaster situation
 
Road Town, 4 February. - In 2017, the islands were hit by two major storms, Hurricane Irma, on 6 September, and Hurricane Maria, on 20 September. This resulted in extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure and significantly impacted the social and economic landscape of this British Overseas Territory.

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Panama – Development of a comprehensive care model for problem drug users
 
Panama City, 7-8 February. - The National Commission for the Study and Prevention of Drug-Related Crimes (CONAPRED, for its acronym in Spanish), the Ministry of Health, the Social Security Fund, Hogares Crea and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) organized a two-day workshop to develop a comprehensive care model for problem drug users based on the integrated health networks.

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Guyana and Haiti - First national rehabilitation assessments
 
Guyana, in December 2018, and Haiti, in February 2019, became the first two countries in the Region to conduct the Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation (STARS). STARS is a new tool and one of the components of Rehabilitation in Health Systems – A Guide for Action, launched by WHO in July 2018 to aid the development and implementation of national rehabilitation strategies in health systems. PAHO/WHO can provide these tools to countries and help to implement them.

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PUBLICATIONS - COURSES – CONFERENCES
 
The management of epilepsy in the public health sector
 
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in the world and in our hemisphere, affecting millions of people. However, it is estimated that more than half of people with epilepsy in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) do not receive care of any kind from health services. One of the key problems is the limited ability to identify, manage, and monitor epilepsy cases in primary health care (PHC) services. Furthermore, in most LAC countries, the secondary (specialized) care level either has serious limitations or is nearly non-existent.
 
This document offers guidelines and a frame of reference to help countries design their national epilepsy programs and should be regarded as complementing the Strategy and plan of action on epilepsy adopted in 2011 by all the ministers of health of the Americas at PAHO/WHO Directing Council, and also complementing the resolution and document approved by the World Health Assembly (WHO, 2015).
 
To access the publication, please visit: https://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=46495&lang=en

Argentina – National University of Córdoba: Master’s degree in mental health 2019
 
The Master’s degree in Mental Health organized by the faculties of Psychology and of Medical Sciences of the National University of Córdoba is currently accepting pre-applications for a new cohort.
 
This is a postgraduate course that grants the title of Master in Mental Health to students who demonstrate adequate understanding and capacity for an interdisciplinary approach to mental health, as well as the ability to independently develop research in this field.
 
To complete the pre-registration form, click on the following link: :https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebheTZW0LXEh71YMWlzpy7Yz99UdvfcXnH_8Z1ASzZDtO1Ug/viewform

For more information, please contact: maestria.salud.mental@fcm.unc.edu.ar

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Credits

Editorial Committee: Maristela Monteiro, Claudina Cayetano, Luis Alfonzo, Antony Duttiene, Andrea Bruni, Carmen Martínez, Amy Tausch,  María Florencia Di Masi y Martha Koev. 

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

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