The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) joins the Organization of American States (OAS) to celebrate the first ever Inter-American Mental Health Week during the second week of October.
The week of activities aligns with PAHO's overall strategy and focuses on the theme: "Empower, Connect, Care: Strengthening Child and Youth Mental Health in the Americas."
The OAS delegations are supporting several activities during the Inter-American Mental Health Week, including a webinar on Wednesday, October 8, where an expert from the Collaboration Center from the University of Chile presented a regional overview of the status of mental health services for children and adolescents in primary care.
A regional workshop scheduled for Thursday, October 9, co-organized by PAHO and the OAS, focuses on strengthening capacity for mental health emergency responses via 911 systems.
"This regional collaboration reflects a shared commitment to address mental health challenges with a rights-based, patient-centered approach and to promote community-based initiatives across the Hemisphere," PAHO Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, said at the event launch.
Despite children and adolescents comprising approximately 30% of the population in the Region of the Americas, their mental health needs remain largely unmet. Among young people aged 15 to 24 years, depression and anxiety are leading causes of years lived with disability, and suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death—underscoring an urgent and preventable public health crisis.
Sadly, many children and adolescents in the Region of the Americas face serious daily challenges such as violence, bullying, discrimination, poverty, health emergencies, and environmental disasters, which increase their risk of developing mental health conditions."
Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director
Strengthening capacity for early detection
On Wednesday, PAHO launched Improving the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Primary Care, an online course aimed at improving the identification and care of mental health conditions in children and adolescents across the Region.
The virtual course was designed for healthcare professionals who are not specialists in child and adolescent mental health, such as primary health care workers, as well as psychologists, nurses and social workers. It responds to the urgent need for early detection and management of mental health problems that often begin in childhood.
Hosted on PAHO's Virtual Campus for Public Health, the course is designed to strengthen the capacity of health services to respond effectively and in a timely manner to the needs of this population. This self-paced program offers 10 modules covering anxiety, depression, trauma, substance use, developmental disorders, ADHD, autism, and suicide prevention.
Reducing risk, building resilience
The Inter-American Mental Health Week and the new course are part of PAHO's broader efforts to strengthen mental health systems. Under the Strategy for Improving Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in the Region of the Americas, key actions like early intervention and mental health promotion in schools and communities can reduce risk factors and build resilience.
"We must do better and the time to act is now. I urge all countries and territories in the Region to make child and adolescent mental health a national priority. This includes fostering social and emotional skills, training health workers to identify and manage mental health conditions in primary health care and ensuring that schools and communities offer psychosocial support and build key life skills," Dr. Barbosa said.
Exploring the association between early childhood eating patterns and adolescent symptoms