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.
Another objective pursued was to discuss the implications of changing public health practices, including community-based service models and opportunities for promoting the indigenous populations' mental health.
One of the panelists, Dr. Claudina Cayetano, PAHO/WHO Mental Health Regional Advisor, presented the mental health scenario and challenges in the Americas, as well as evidence-based interventions for bridging the treatment gap. Dr. Myrna Cunningham, Vice-President of the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, mentioned the barriers for accessing health services faced by these populations. She also highlighted the support received from PAHO to promote mental health among indigenous communities and the establishment of mechanisms that integrate traditional medicine into the existing health systems.
Although, Dr. Marc Laporta, from the Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, McGill University, was not present, there was an opportunity to discuss his presentation about the mhGAP training program on PAHO's Virtual Campus (VC) platform, as well as a project targeting wellness and social interventions for disadvantaged populations, focused on issues related to health promotion and prevention among indigenous men and women in Nunavut, Canada.
