Meeting about the Community Model and Psychiatric Reform
Local will and leadership, gender equality, creativity and permanent innovation

Santiago, Chile, 5-6 March, 2009. First meeting of the technical cooperation project between Peru, Argentina and Chile on “Promoting Mental Health in Primary Health Care Settings”. Mental health workers and other professionals from various disciplines attended the meeting, as well as healthcare teams and leaders of organizations of users and families. There were also participants from different organizations, including representatives from the PAHO offices, Dr Hugo Cohen, PAHO/WHO Subregional Advisor on Mental Health and authorities from the ministries of health of each country. 

The goals of the meeting were the interchange of experiences of community models in mental health and of transformation of psychiatric hospitals in the three countries, as well as the empowerment of key actors to promote this transformation. One of the results hoped for is the development of at least one pilot project of the community model and psychiatric reform per country. 

Mar del Plata, Argentina, 22-25 April, 2009.  The XXV Argentine Psychiatry Conference took place under the title “Mental Health: A Public Health Problem.”  The PAHO/WHO Subregional Advisor on Mental Health, Dr. Hugo Cohen, carried out a presentation describing the advances in the use of the World Health Organization Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS) in the country.   

Honduras: Workshop on Human Rights and Mental Health

Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 8-9 June, 2009. A workshop on “Basic Human Rights and fundamental freedoms for people with disabilities” was celebrated and organized by the National Mental Health Program of the Secretariat of Health and PAHO/WHO. It was inaugurated by Dr. Lilian Reneau, PAHO/WHO Representative in Honduras, and professionals from various backgrounds of health, social services, justice and DDHH movements from the country attended.