Join us on Thursday, June 11, at 11:00 a.m. (Washington, DC time or EST) on the webinar "Financing Models for Mental Health with a Focus on Primary Health Care". This webinar is part of a series focused on addressing regional challenges to advance mental health in the Americas. As part of this effort, it contributes to technical and policy discussions on financing models that enable the transformation of mental health services toward a community-based, primary health care–centered approach.
Objectives of the webinar
- To analyze regional financing experiences that promote the integration of mental health into Primary Health Care (PHC) and ensure its long-term sustainability.
- To address the inclusion of mental health in benefit packages and insurance schemes.
- To explore strategies for progressive financing and scale-up.
How to participate
- DATE: Thursday, June 11, 2026
- TIME: 11:00 a.m. (Washington, DC time or EST) [Check at the end of the page the time in other cities]
- LANGUAGES: English and Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation in those languages.
- REGISTER: https://paho-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZmlwcXKOR9awhz1k0n7Qxg#/registration
Agenda
Available soon!
Context
Mental health is an essential component of individual, social, and economic well-being in Latin America and the Caribbean, closely linked to the right to health and to sustainable development. The COVID‑19 pandemic highlighted and further exacerbated this centrality, generating significant setbacks in progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals and widening gaps in access to health services, including mental health care.
These impacts occurred in a context of persistent structural weaknesses in the region’s health systems, characterized by chronic underfunding, fragmentation and segmentation, as well as high levels of out-of-pocket expenditure, which disproportionately affect populations living in poverty and vulnerable situations.
Recent evidence also shows a growing gap between the burden of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders and the level of public investment allocated to mental health. Spending remains insufficient and is largely concentrated in psychiatric hospitals, to the detriment of primary health care and community services, thereby reproducing inefficient models that are poorly aligned with population needs.
Within this framework, ECLAC and PAHO concur that strengthening Primary Health Care constitutes a central strategy for advancing toward universal, comprehensive, sustainable, and resilient health systems. PHC offers a key platform for integrating mental health with a territorial and community-based approach, provided that it is supported by sufficient financing mechanisms aligned with community service reforms.
For this reason, it is a priority to promote regional spaces for analysis and dialogue that make it possible to share experiences and lessons learned regarding financing reforms aimed at integrating mental health into PHC.
Time in other cities
- 8:00 a.m. – Los Angeles, Vancouver.
- 9:00 a.m. - Belmopan, Guatemala City, Managua, Mexico City, San Salvador, San José (Costa Rica), Tegucigalpa.
- 10:00 a.m. - Bogotá, Kingston, Lima, Panama City, Quito,
- 11:00 a.m. - Bridgetown, Caracas, Georgetown, Havana, La Paz, Nassau, Ottawa, Port-au-Prince, Port of Spain, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Saint George's, Saint John's (Antigua), Santiago, Washington D.C.
- 12:00 p.m. – Asunción, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo, Paramaribo.
- 5:00 p.m. – Geneva, Madrid.
For other cities, check the local times in the following link.