23 October 2016 – As part of its work on mental health care in Lebanon, WHO supported the Ministry of Public Health in conducting various training workshops on mental health, funded by the European Union under the Neighbourhood Initiative. A total of 102 health care staff have been trained so far.
In line with the Ministry's efforts to integrate mental health into primary health care, these training workshops aim at building the capacity of primary health care nd social development centres staff on mental health care, namely: 1) on assessment, management and referral using the mental health Gap Action Programme guide; and 2) on how to provide assistance to people following a crisis event using the Psychological First Aid guide. These workshops are a continuation of the efforts initiated 3 years ago.
Contributing to the efforts on building a mental health referral system, WHO is conducting 11 2-day training workshops on managing mental health emergencies at emergency departments in all public and private hospitals in Lebanon.This intervention was piloted in 2015 by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in collaboration with Restart centre in the north and will be rolled out to all hospitals in Lebanon due to the growing need in dealing with difficult cases such as psychotic agitation or suicidal attempt.
Related links
European Union Neighbourhood Initiative
WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP)
United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
