The free webinar can be accessed on the Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental health Youtube channel here
Date: 14 April 2020
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is leaving a myriad of unanswered questions in its wake - and many pf these relate to the mental health of populations under lockdown, quarantine or self-isolation. The ill effects that this pandemic can have on the global mental health burden should not be underestimated - even more so in low-resource settings such as most countries on the African continent.
On 14 April 2020 there was a free webinar on the mental health aspects of the Covid-19 crisis in Africa. The four invited speakers each presented.
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Topic
Coping with anxiety and stress related to Covid-19
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Biography
Chiwoza Bandawe, MSc/PhD, is an associate Professor in the department of mental health at University of Malawi's College of Medicine. His areas of interest and expertise include Social Psychology, cultural aspects of human behaviour and mental health competence, Indigenous African Psychology and mental health education.
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Topic
Psychological and psychosocial care for people directly affected by Covid-19
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Biography
Dixon Chibanda started the Friendship Bench in one of Harare’s townships called Mbare in 2007 and conceptualized the first Friendship Bench intervention that has now been refined and adapted considerably.
He has been involved in mental health research for many years. Dixon is a key player in bringing the various stakeholders from local health authorities, health professionals, national and international researchers and donors together to form successful collaborations.
In his role as PI, he has led the Friendship Bench team through the rigorous exercise of the randomized control trial (RCT) which was able to deliver evidence for the intervention’s effectiveness. He is currently leading the team as they scale-up the Friendship Bench to over 60 primary health care clinics in the country.
Dixon Chibanda is Associate Professor at the Centre for Global Mental Health and the Director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI).
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Jose Luis Ayuso-Mateos MD, PhD
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Topic
Availability and provision of essential mental health services to allow continuity of care for those in need: Lessons from Spain
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Biography
Jose Luis Ayuso-Mateos MD, PhD. Chairman at the Department of Psychiatry and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Services Research and Training at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He is also Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Hospital Universitario de la Princesa (564 beds), in charge of the organization and management of all the public mental health services covering an attachment area with a population of 323,000 citizens in downtown Madrid. He is currently in charge of the design and coordination of all the consultation psychiatry and psychological support programmes developed to provide services for Covid-19 patients either admitted at the hospital or at home, their relatives and/or caregivers, and the health staff.
Dr Ayuso-Mateos is part of a team of international experts assigned by the WHO and ILO to estimate the attributable risk of depression related to long working hours exposure. He is the Principal Investigator of the “European platforM to PromOte Wellbeing and hEalth in the woRkplace (EMPOWER)” project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. He is also the PI in the ongoing SYNCHROS and ATHLOS EU projects and Deputy Scientific Director of the CIBERSAM research network.
He is a member of the International Advisory Group for Training and Implementation for ICD-11 and works with the WHO in the dissemination of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP). |
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Topic
“Messages for Mothers” and other mental health responses to COVID-19 for mothers in South Africa
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