Mental Health and Telehealth
Organizations and Professional Events
WORLG- through WZZ

• Act as the directing and co-ordinating authority on international health work
• Promote technical co-operation
• Assist Governments, upon request, in strengthening health services
• Furnish appropriate technical assistance and, in emergencies, necessary aid, upon the request or acceptance of Governments
• Stimulate and advance work on the prevention and control of epidemic, endemic and other diseases
• Promote, in co-operation with other specialized agencies where necessary, the improvement of nutrition, housing, sanitation, recreation, economic or working conditions and other aspects of environmental hygiene
• Promote and co-ordinate biomedical and health services research
• Promote improved standards of teaching and training in the health, medical and related professions
• Establish and stimulate the establishment of international standards for biological, pharmaceutical and similar products, and to standardize diagnostic procedures
• Foster activities in the field of mental health, especially those activities affecting the harmony of human relations

WHO also proposes conventions, agreements, regulations and makes recommendations about international nomenclature of diseases, causes of death and public health practices. It develops, establishes and promotes international standards concerning foods and biological, pharmaceutical and similar substances.

Since modern psychiatry is a Western import to the Muslims it was felt by pioneer Muslim psychiatrists, that for psychiatry to work more effectively in the Muslim world all aspects of the psychiatric process including Diagnosis, Prognosis Treatment, and Planning for Psychiatric Facilities, have to be adapted to the Islamic cultural context. The major objectives are to promote mental health in Muslim countries and to carry research in cultural psychiatry of the Muslims.

WMA functions through:

• Representation of the medical profession
• Setting and implementation of behavioural/ethical, clinical and educational standards
• Shaping of public health policy to ensure that patients have access to high-quality health care
• Democracy-building in the medical professions of new or developing democracies. In addition, the WMA has successfully lobbied and fought for the release of physicians held in detention without trial, in different countries
• Advocacy-focusing on the common concerns and interests of patients and physicians
• Disseminating knowledge and information to optimize standards of care

The official publication of the WMA is the World Medical Journal.

WONCA is made up of national colleges, academies or organizations concerned with the academic aspects of general family medicine. Beginning with 18 members in 1972, there are now 97 member organizations in 79 countries.

The official publication of WONCA is The European Journal of General Practice.

The members of the WPA are 112 national psychiatric societies representing  more than 150,000 psychiatrists. The societies are clustered into 18 Zones and 5 Regions: the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific. Representatives of the societies constitute the WPA General Assembly, the governing body of the organization. The WPA has individual members and there are provisions for affiliation of other associations (eg, those dealing with a particular topic in psychiatry).

Objectives:

• Improve the care and preserve the rights of the mentally ill
• Prevent mental disorders and promote mental health
• Upgrade knowledge, skills and attitudes for psychiatric work
• Promote the highest ethical and quality standards in psychiatric care, teaching and research
• Promote non-discrimination (parity) in health care
• Protect the rights of psychiatrists

The official publication of WPA is World Psychiatry.

1. 15-th World Congress of Psychiatry: "Our Heritage and Our Future" (September 18-22, 2011: Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina)

15-th World Congress of Psychiatry
"Our Heritage and Our Future"

(Kindly consult the meeting's Web pages.)

Event sponsor: World Psychiatric Association [WPA]

September 18-22, 2011
Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina

Co-sponsored by the Argentina Association of Psychiatrists [AAP]; the Association of Argentinean Psychiatrists [APSA]; and the Foundation for Interdisciplinary Investigation of Communication [FINTECO].

The World Congress of Psychiatry is organized every three years. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of those achievements which have stood the test of time (our heritage) and of the most promising current trends (our future) in the various areas of psychiatric research and practice.

Keynotes:

• Classification and diagnostic systems
  • Norman Sartorius
• Genetics of mental disorders
  • Peter McGuffin
• Community mental health care
  • Graham Thornicroft
• Psychosocial rehabilitation
  • Robert E Drake
• Culture and mental health
  • Renato Alarcón
• Neuroimaging of psychoses
  • Philip McGuire
• Cognitive-behavioural psychotherapies
  • Katherine Shear
• Intermediate phenotypes in psychiatry
  • Daniel R Weinberger
• Psychiatry and general medicine
  • Thomas Wise
• Clinical approach to schizophrenia
  • William T Carpenter Jr
• Clinical approach to bipolar disorder
  • Eduard Vieta
• Clinical approach to major depression
  • Michael E Thase
• Clinical approach to eating disorders
  • Christopher Fairburn
• Clinical approach to personality disorders
  • Andrew E Skodol
• Clinical approach to anxiety disorders
  • Dan Stein
• Epidemiology of mental disorders
  • Ronald C Kessler
• Psychodynamic psychotherapies
  • Peter Fonagy
• New and old addiction disorders
  • Charles P O'Brien
• Child psychiatry
  • Judith Rapoport
• Old age psychiatry
  • Dilip Jeste
• Mental health consequences of trauma and violence
  • Alexander C McFarlane
• Ethics and human rights
  • Fernando Lolas
• Women's mental health
  • Donna Stewart
• Epidemiology and prevention of suicide
  • Michael Phillips

Official language: English, with simultaneous translation into Spanish and Portuguese for certain sessions.

Deadline for abstracts or proposals: 1/20/2011.

Up to ?32 continuing education credit hour equivalents available for
  -physicians

Event Contact:

MCI Buenos Aires
Avenida Santa Fe 1970, 1º Piso, Oficina 1
C1123AAO, Buenos Aires
Argentina

+54/11/5252 9801
+54/11/4813 0073 fax

wpa-argentina2011@mci-group.com

(If you please, when you ask about the above event, it might be very helpful of you to refer to these World Wide Web pages as your source.)

• Manifestations and rates of mental illness across cultures
• Cultural influences on vulnerability to and coping with mental illness
• Cultural influences on access to and use of psychiatric treatment
• Efficacy of indigenous and alternative healing methods
• Stigma and resilience related to mental illness

The Transcultural Psychiatry Section organizes international conferences at least twice yearly.

Transhumanism is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating the possibilities for overcoming biological limitations through technological progress. Transhumanists seek to expand technological opportunities for people to live longer and healthier lives and to enhance their intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities.

Official publications of the WTA are:

• Journal of Evolution and Technology
• Transhumanity

Objectives:

• Promote human rights
• Develop national and international user/survivor networks
• Promote the WNUSP as the international voice of users and survivors of psychiatry
• Develop the network’s long term funding strategy
• Develop knowledge about alternatives to the medical model
• Create an oral history of user/survivor stories and promote it via the website