The role of the <scp>WPA</scp> Collaborating Centres in promoting mental health education and policy worldwide
Authors: Andrea Fiorillo, Muhammad W. Azeem, Debasish Basu, Santosh Chaturvedi, Linda Lam, Pratima Murthy, David Ndetei, Tarek Okasha, Dan J. Stein, Kamaldeep Bhui
Journal: World Psychiatry (2025)

The WPA Collaborating Centres compose a network of nine sites, located in eight different countries (Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Kenya, Qatar, South Africa and UK), which aim to strengthen psychiatric practice in their respective regions through building capacity for mental health at all levels1, and to support WPA strategic policies through local and global initiatives in the arenas of education, research, policy and practice2. The Centres have a specific commitment to improve undergraduate and postgraduate education in psychiatry, including training in a range of psychiatric subspecialties and provision of additional postgraduate diplomas, masters, and doctoral degrees. A major focus is the process of detection, diagnostic formulation, and development of individualized treatment plans3, 4. Considering the different biological, social and psychological dimensions of psychiatry, mental health education should be considered as a continuously evolving process, where advances at scientific and clinical levels make educational updates essential for health care professionals, trainees and medical students5. Furthermore, the evidence available is continuously debated, and clear guidance and recommendations are accumulating whilst not always being implemented. Therefore, a significant effort is needed to update educational curricula and materials, to ensure that they reach all areas of the globe, and to support the implementation of best practice, taking account of local resources, cultural and political contexts. These are among the main objectives of the Centres. The WPA Collaborating Centres are supporting the current WPA Action Plan, with a specific focus on prevention and public mental health. Almost 75% of the general population is at risk of developing a mental health condition over the life course, making targeted preventive strategies, educational activities and screening campaigns highly needed worldwide, focusing particularly on children, adolescents and their parents. At the same time, a great attention must be devoted to understanding the role of social determinants of mental health, including poverty, pollution, war, bullying, as well as lifestyle behaviors6. A specific focus of the current WPA Action Plan is the promotion of healthy lifestyles to protect and promote the mental health of people living with severe mental disorders. Thus, the Collaborating Centres are developing educational materials on healthy diet, quitting smoking, physical exercise, and regular sleep hygiene7. These materials will be translated into several languages and disseminated worldwide through the WPA Member Societies and the WPA website, which hosts a number of resources, including short videos providing advice as well as educational and research evidence. The Collaborating Centres also have their own dedicated commitments. For example, the UK Centre, in partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, has launched a new Public Mental Health Leadership course. The Chandigarh Centre in India has launched a "Chandigarh Charter on Public Mental Health" on the occasion of its Diamond Jubilee International Conference on Mental Health, which is hosted on the WPA website. Some Centres are actively collaborating with the WPA Committee on Education and Scientific Publications in the process of developing international policy papers and guidance documents, such as the WPA guideline on antipsychotic prescriptions in middle- and low-income countries. Furthermore, the Centres are building on the WPA Action Plan by implementing a variety of local and global actions8-10. In fact, they are all working at the promotion and dissemination of educational activities focused on training in and implementation of the ICD-11 and related Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Requirements; on the management of physical comorbidities in people with severe mental disorders; and on the promotion of adolescent mental health. All these activities are being conducted in collaboration with other components of the Association11-14. The Collaborating Centres have a suite of activities supporting the WPA prevention mission. Just to give a few examples, the Centres in Hong Kong, Qatar, Kenya, South Africa and UK are investigating school-based and psychosocial determinants of poor health. The Qatar Centre has provided services to Afghani refugees, children and families from Gaza and Ukraine, by establishing appropriate child, adolescent and women's mental health services. The Centre in Egypt has worked in collaboration with the Ministry of Health to provide mental health services for women and children from Gaza on the border between Rafah and Gaza. The Collaborating Centres are also partnering with various national and international organizations. In particular, they are constantly in contact with institutions and research networks active in the field of mental health and psychiatry, such as the World Health Organization, the Psychiatric Genetics Consortium, the Enhancing Neuroimaging and Genetic Meta-analysis Consortium, and the World Mental Health Surveys. Scholarship opportunities have been provided by the Centres to early career psychiatrists and researchers to attend regional and global WPA meetings through trainee and medical student prize competitions. All Centres participate in setting the competition format, selecting the winners, and providing certificates. The WPA President usually presents the awards at the relevant regional or global meetings. All the Centres are strongly involved with community engagement and advocacy for mental health, and they are all very active in supporting the leadership role of the WPA worldwide by participating in major national and international scientific meetings. Opportunities and links for more interdisciplinary work across the Centres have been built in the last triennium, and we believe that this interdisciplinary network can further help the growth of the WPA in the near future.