[New Series] Ask the Policy Expert: Dr Rabih El Chammay, Lebanon
Over 1 million registered refugees live in Lebanon alongside thousands of Palestinian refugees and Lebanese returnees from Syria. In the midst of this complex situation, the Lebanese health system has show tremendous resilience. In May 2014, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Lebanon launched the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) with the support of WHO, UNICEF and International Medical Corps (IMC). The aim of the NMHP was to reform mental health care in Lebanon and provide services at the community level, in line with human rights standards and evidence for best practice.
Since the launch of the NMHP, the MoPH has been working on coordinating the MHPSS response through a task-force co-chaired by WHO, UNICEF and 62 other organizations.
As part of the new MHIN webinar series "Ask the Policy Expert", Dr Rabih El Chammay will join us to talk about:
- Why the programme was created
- How the programme was developed
- The ongoing mental health reform process
- Learning lessons from the implementation process
Key details:
Who: Dr Rabih El Chammay, Head of the National Mental Health Programme, Ministry of Public Health Lebanon
What: An opportunity to ask policy related questions during a Q&A session with a lead mental health policy maker in Lebanon
Watch:
About the "Ask the Policy Expert" webinar series
WHO’s comprehensive mental health action plan 2013-2020 was adopted by the 66th World Health Assembly. The four major objectives of the action plan are to:
- strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health.
- provide comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings.
- implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health.
- strengthen information systems, evidence and research for mental health.
Each "Ask the expert" webinar in the series will focus on country level implementation of one of the mental health action plan objectives. Through this series, we aim to learn more about the approaches used by policy makers to implement mental health programs and how policy makers are aiming to achieve the action plan targets.
The first webinar focuses on the action plan's first objective to strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health and the action plan global target 1.1: By 2020, 80% of countries will have developed or updated their policies/plans for mental health in line with international and regional human rights instruments.
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