Pre-service Education in Mental, Brain and Behavioural Health: Scaling Up Implementation and Dissemination Workshop
In recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been working to enhance undergraduate education for healthcare professionals, particularly doctors and nurses, in the domains of mental health, brain health, and substance use conditions.
Following a workshop convened in Geneva in 2022, a pivotal recommendation emerged: the development of a practical guide by WHO to facilitate the integration of mental health education into the curriculum of future general health professionals, particularly nursing and medical students. This guide, anchored in a competency-based framework, emphasizes the cultivation of core competencies essential for mental health care.
Photo by the Shanghai WHO Collaborating Center - Dr. Angel Belle Dy
As part of the preliminary activities for the guide's release, stakeholders from around the world convened in Shanghai last March 13-14, 2024 for a strategic planning session aimed at implementation and dissemination. It is a collective aspiration to empower future generations of doctors and nurses with mental health competencies to bridge the gap in mental health provision through enhanced medical education. As a participant and presenter to these meetings, the ASMPH, represented by Dr. Angel Belle Dy, is eager to contribute to this transformative initiative and witness its profound impact on shaping the future of medical education and healthcare delivery in the Philippines and worldwide.
Photo by the Shanghai WHO Collaborating Center
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Policy Brief: Mental Health in Zamboanga del Norte
Zamboanga del Norte is a province in Mindanao which includes six municipalities that were randomly chosen to be part of the research sites of the mhPAD study. From the data collected, together with consultations with the provincial hospital’s lone psychiatrist, policy recommendations addressing gaps in the province’s mental health system are given, including: recognition of mental health as a public health priority through the development and strengthening of a provincial mental health program; strengthening of the operational management system in the provincial implementation of the mental health Medicine Access Program (MAP); and addressing and overcoming mental illness discrimination within communities.
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Policy Brief: Mental Health in MIMAROPA
Region IV-B is a region composed of islands. The municipality of Gasan in Marinduque was randomly selected as one of the research sites of the mhPAD study. From the data collected, together with consultations with the Regional Mental Health Coordinator, policy recommendations addressing gaps in the region’s mental health system are given, including: improvement in the capacity of primary care workers to provide mental health services; building of access to telemedicine services; establishment of an acute psychiatric unit in the region; and increasing of mental health literacy.