“Mental Health services are an essential part of all government responses to COVID-19”, as António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations stated only a few days ago.
In line and complied with above, on 27th of May, AICS Addis Abeba offered technical assistance during a virtual meeting of the TWG MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support), part of the Health Cluster in Ethiopia, thanks to the availability of some Italian experts, currently engaged on Mental Health management in times of COVID-19. The Italian experience during the pandemic in regards to this specific field is very useful and meaningful for health workers and policymakers in Ethiopia.
The meeting aimed at sharing practical knowledge, good practices, and facilitate a direct interaction among health practitioners, namely on mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three Italian experts were invited by AICS to actively share their experience and knowledge, and participants were from NGOs, Addis Ababa University, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), and the UN.
The first expert was Dr. Giovanni de Girolamo, from the IRCCS – Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli of Brescia, and presented a “General introduction based on the paper Mental Health in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Emergency - The Italian Response in Jama Psychiatry”.
The second expert was Dr. Fabrizio Starace, Director of the Department of Mental Health & Drug Abuse - AUSL Modena, also President of the Italian Society of Epidemiological Psychiatry (SIEP), and Member of the National Health Council. He presented “Services’ restructuring as paper COVID-19 disease emergency operational instructions for Mental Health Departments in EPS (Italian Society of Epidemiological Psychiatry)”.
Lastly, Dr. Maria Luisa Scattoni, from the Research and Coordination and Support Service of the Italian Institute of Health, presented “Stress management for healthcare workers in COVID-19 context”. The interesting report "Interim guidance for the appropriate support of the health workers in the SARS-CoV-2 emergency scenario" is now available also in English.
The three presentations can be found below, as well as the video-recording of the meeting.
We take this opportunity to thank the three experts, the organizers, and all the participants who made this sharing knowledge session possible.
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The presentations:
Presentation 1: Dr. Giovanni de Girolamo, “General introduction based on the paper Mental Health in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Emergency - The Italian Response in Jama Psychiatry”.
Presentation 2: Dr. Fabrizio Starace, “Services’ restructuring as paper COVID-19 disease emergency operational instructions for Mental Health Departments in EPS (Italian Society of Epidemiological Psychiatry)”.
Presentation 3: Dr. Maria Luisa Scattoni, “Stress management for healthcare workers in COVID-19 context”.
The video-recording of the meeting:
