International experts meet in Toronto to find strategies for addictions and mental health access

For Immediate Release – March 11, 2008 (TORONTO) – Great strides have been made in the 30 years since the Alma Ata Declaration first urged all nations to work towards better access to primary health care worldwide, but including mental health treatment is something that continues to be a challenge internationally. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is hosting an international forum entitled Accelerating the Agenda for Action: Strengthening Efforts to Integrate Addiction and Mental Health in Primary Care on March 17-18 at 175 College St., 3^rd floor, Toronto.

Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Ministries of Health of Brazil, Chile, and Tanzania; senior researchers & practitioners from Nigeria, Brunei, Chile, and UK; the Municipal Government of the city of Fortaleza (Brazil); as well as CAMH researchers and practitioners will participate in discussions to find strategies to narrow the gap in addiction and mental health services in primary care settings.

“Addiction and mental health services are often under-funded in many countries, but internationally, there are unique barriers that governments and health care providers face,” said Akwatu Khenti, Director of the Office of International Health, CAMH. “This conference will bring together researchers and health care providers, as well as government officials from as far away as Chile and Tanzania to grapple with issues that affect literally millions of patients around the globe.”

Poor funding, lack of trained personnel, lack of infrastructure support and political instability are among the many factors that characterize barriers to adequate services internationally. CAMH’s Office of International Health is working to help increase the capacity of public health workers at the primary care level through training and shared information. Though these problems are not easily solved, this will serve as an opportunity for stakeholders on all levels to share experiences and take steps toward a more comprehensive model of care delivery.

“Our efforts have taught us that capacity building must be accompanied by efforts to address stigma, boost self-care among providers, foster more effective team-work and collaborative learning, and engage management and policy leaders to provide greater support for primary health care,” added Khenti “We are in the process of distilling the many lessons learnt from earlier experiences and – as Canada needs to boost our own capacity for primary care clinicians to treat addictions and mental illness-- want to learn from the experiences of others.”

The experiences and recommendations from the various participants will be used to produce The Toronto letter: Accelerating Actions to Strengthen Primary Health Care Services in Addiction and Mental Health, a document focused on practical and strategic actions to strengthen the provision of care. The letter will report on common challenges, barriers and proven strategies for enhanced delivery of addiction and mental health services through primary health care and call for action among governments, decision makers, researchers, and practitioners.

For more information or to obtain a full itinerary and list of speakers, please contact Michael Torres, Media Relations, CAMH at 416 595 6015 or email: media@camh.net.

-30-

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addictions teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in the area of addictions and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development, prevention and health promotion to transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.

CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.