Conference on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Africa

From 24th to 25th January 2008, the Ministry of Public Health in Burundi, together with HealthNet TPO held a regional conference on mental health and psychosocial support. This conference was a follow up of another conference on mental health that took place in Burundi in July 2006. The conference was honoured by the presence of guests from African countries such as Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Southern Sudan and Congo-Brazzaville and guests from the USA, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium all working in the field of mental health. The participants had various affiliations: ministries of health, international NGOs such a HealthNet TPO, local organizations, and UN agencies.

In his opening speech, the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Emmanuel Gikoro, recognized that the mental health sector in Burundi has been neglected for years. This is an important factor for slowing down the process of development and poverty reduction, added the Minister. He thanked HealthNet TPO for its remarkable contribution in the promotion of a national policy of mental health and in the integration of mental health and psychosocial services. He committed the Ministry to the implementation of reformed, integrated, and decentralized psychosocial support and mental health services at all levels of health care. He underlined that this cannot be achieved without the bilateral and multilateral partners and donors support.  Mr. Arthur Kibbelaar of the Dutch Embassy emphasized the importance of mental health for effective peace building and social reconstruction. The Dutch government has financed projects of HealthNet TPO in Burundi since 2000.

Mr Willem van de Put, the Director General of HealthNet TPO mentioned in his presentation that the problem these days is not any more to prove that effective mental health and psychosocial interventions exist but that they can also effectively be implemented. Dr Gary Belkin of the Millennium Villages Project gave an outline of how mental health interventions are integrated in the total package to lift populations out of poverty in 12 project sites in poor African regions. Dr Shekhar Saxena and dr Edwige Faydi of the WHO in Geneva highlighted the work of the WHO to help governments to develop mental health policies. The WHO argues that scaling-up of a package of selected mental health interventions is doable.

The presentation of Herman Ndayisba and Peter Ventevogel of HealthNet TPO Burundi illustrated this case. Since the start of the project in 2002 the project has expanded and had an important influence on government policy. That significant progress has been made in Burundi became also clear in the presentation of the Director General of the Ministry of Health. In the last years the government has paid more attention to mental health: a mental health policy is drafted, mental health trainers have been trained and training modules have been written. Uganda and Tanzania have been able to make large mental health programmes and for countries that recently came out of a crisis, such as Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo there is still much work ahead.

·         During lectures and workgroups several other themes were debated such asThe importance of mental health for poverty reduction

·         Psychosocial support and mental health as essential elements for all development projects

·         Strategies to reinforce the mental health system in low incomes countries

·         Financing of mental health interventions.

The conference that was attended by around 120 persons showed that a renewed interest in mental health and psychosocial support in the Great Lake region is emerging. Partners from different organizations and countries agreed to meet regularly, to continue exchanging experiences and develop plans together.