The course organised by PAHO on its public health virtual campus on capacity building for the operationalisation and training of facilitators in the mhGAP programme began in December 2020 and ended in mid-February 2021.
This initiative is part of the support that PAHO is providing in the context of COVID 19, in which we are witnessing an increase in stressors that could lead to an increase in mental health conditions, or the worsening of pre-existing conditions. The aim of the course was to provide the necessary tools to develop, implement and make effective the integration of mental health in primary care through the mhGAP programme, and to continue strengthening the capacities of professionals. The proposed systematisation of operational plans for the development of the programme, including not only training but also elements of implementation, monitoring, supervision, follow-up, and evaluation, is expected to influence the sustainability of the expected integration.
The participating countries have been Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. The profiles of the participants included health service managers in charge of mental health integration, national and regional mental health coordinators, and mental health professionals.
The course was a great challenge as it was conducted entirely in a virtual format. It consisted of 12 virtual sessions of 4 hours each (via the zoom platform), as well as personal and group work. In the virtual sessions we have managed to create a participatory environment, where the different countries have been able to exchange experiences and learning and where each country has been able to develop an operational plan to implement a pilot project of mhGAP at district level.
The course has been very positively evaluated by the participants, especially regarding the development of a monitoring and supervision plan for mhGAP training, and PAHO will continue to support the countries in the implementation of their pilot projects.