WPA educational activities
Authors: Edgard Belfort
Journal: World Psychiatry (2013)

The WPA is promoting a comprehensive and interdisciplinary program combining research and education, self-learning and teamwork. The foundation is the development of a professional vision, an active, creative, critical and ethical attitude consistent with the strategies of the triennial plan of the Association. The main focus is being the development of regional training activities, particularly in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, and the adaptation of these activities to local circumstances, working hand in hand with the presidents of the societies and institutions in the regions. We are trying to identify subject areas and issues of great relevance to the profession and the communities. Moreover, the model emphasizes the development of educational networks with the participation of experts in different areas of psychiatry. Among the main recent activities are the educational seminar on bipolar disorder held in Lima, Peru in May 2012 (attended by about 90 psychiatrists from almost all Latin American countries); the educational programme on response to emergencies held in Bali, Indonesia in September 2012; the educational programme on preventive psychiatry held in Bilbao, Spain in September 2012; the educational symposium taking place in Prague, Czech Republic in October 2012, focusing on early career psychiatrists; the educational symposium held in Natal, Brazil in November 2012, on education and training in medical practice; the educational forum held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November 2012 on the identity of Latin America psychiatry; the educational seminar held in Athens, Greece in November 2012 on the multidisciplinary facets of psychiatry; the educational symposium taking place in La Asuncion, Paraguay in January 2013, on Latin American perspectives about addressing mental needs; the educational seminar on schizophrenia held in Cairo, Egypt in January 2013; and the educational symposium on fighting stigma and discrimination taking place in Guayaquil, Ecuador in February 2013. The educational materials available on the WPA website (www.wpanet.org) include: the WPA e-learning programme, covering videos and slide sets of prominent scientific lectures from WPA meetings 1; the three sets of slides based on the WPA books dealing with the comorbidity of depression with diabetes, heart disease and cancer 2-4, the educational module on physical illness in patients with severe mental disorders 5, 6, the WPA guidance papers on implementation of community mental health care 7, how to combat stigmatization of psychiatry and psychiatrists 8, mental health care in migrants 9, and promotion of mental health in children of persons with severe mental disorders 10; the WPA template for undergraduate and postgraduate education in psychiatry and mental health; the recommendations for relationships of psychiatrists and psychiatric organizations with the pharmaceutical industry 11; the recommendations on best practices in working with service users and carers 12; the WPA/PTD educational programme on depressive disorders, and the WPA/ISSPD educational programme on personality disorders.