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Africa

African Regional Council Holds Board Meeting in Zambia

The African Regional Council held a strategic planning workshop and Board

meeting in Lusaka, Zambia on 11-14 September 2000, the first formal meeting

since that held in October 1994 in Pretoria, South Africa. The Lusaka

meeting was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

under a new project called “Mental Health Action Strategies in Southern

Africa (MHASISA).” (The goals of Project MHASISA were described in the

Second Quarter Newsletter, pp. 6-7.)

Six of the original founding Board members were present in Lusaka: Isaac

Mwendapole (President, Zambia), Mabvuto Tembo (Treasurer, Zambia), Thandi

Malepe (Swaziland), Driekie Moutinho (South Africa), Dr. Sobbie Mulindi

(Kenya) and Lage Vitus (South Africa). The other Board members are:

Elizabeth Matare (Secretary, Zimbabwe), Immaculate Chamangwana (Malawi),

Julius Kayiira (Uganda) and Shona Sturgeon (WFMH Regional Vice President,

South Africa). Nine observers also attended from South Africa, Swaziland

and Zambia, including a leading Zambian consumer/user, Abraham Shibeene, who

focused attention on human rights during the program.

The meeting was preceded by an opening ceremony at the Canadian High

Commission Chancery, chaired by Elizabeth Matare, to launch Project MHASISA.

Shona Sturgeon read out goodwill messages from WFMH Board members around the

world and spoke on behalf of the Federation. Isaac Mwendapole spoke on

behalf of the ARC, and Justice Sakala gave an address as president of the

Zambian Mental Health Association. The Canadian High Commissioner, Dilys

Buckley-Jones, formally launched Project MHASISA on behalf of CIDA. The

Strategic Planning Workshop and the Board meeting were opened by the

reception’s guest of honor, Dr. Edward Maganu, WHO’s Country Representative.

The Workshop on 11-12 September was designed to prepare the way for the

Board meeting which followed on 13-14 September by identifying many common

mental health conditions and issues, differing only in degree, in the

participating countries. Most of the conditions were socio-economic in

nature, with poverty, violence and the effects of globalisation high on the

list. The Workshop was facilitated by a consultant, Given Lubinda, and a

full report is being compiled.

The Board gave a high priority to refining plans for the MHASISA Project.

It hopes to meet twice in 2001 to move the project ahead, with the first

meeting tentatively planned for January or February in Harare, Zimbabwe, and

the second coinciding with a proposed all-Africa conference/workshop in

Kampala, Uganda, in August. The proposal for the Kampala conference,

designed by Dr. Florence Baingana (now at the World Bank, on leave from her

post as a Principal Medical Officer in Uganda’s Ministry of Health), was

accepted in principle with some adjustment of budget items. Funding for

this event, however, has still to be secured. Julius Kayiira of the Mental

Health Association of Uganda said that his organization could manage the

administration of the meeting.

The Lusaka meeting’s agenda included a president’s report from Isaac

Mwendapole. Shona Sturgeon reported on current developments in WFMH,

highlighting regional participation in World Mental Health Day and the

importance of efforts to increase membership. Lage Vitus, Executive

Director of the South African Federation for Mental Health, reported on the

status of human rights in the region. Dr. Sobbi Mulindi of Kenya spoke

about the HIV/AIDS crisis, its effect on families and its mental health

consequences.

The ARC Board adopted a new constitution which in some respects is more in

line with that of WFMH. A pro-forma constitution was also presented as a

model for groups wanting to start mental health associations. The Board

resolved to change the organization’s name to African Regional Council for

Mental Health to provide a clear statement of purpose, while still

functioning as a constituency of WFMH. Among the other items discussed were

financial policy, the possibility of “twinning” mental health associations

in Africa with partner associations in Europe, and ways of improving the

ARC’s relationship with WHO. The Secretary, Elizabeth Matare, lives in

Harare and attends the regional meetings of WHO there on behalf of the ARC.

The Board discussed plans to form an African Mental Health Users’ Network.

One of the objectives of Project MHASISA is to focus attention on the need

for consumer involvement. When Edward Pennington, the General Director of

the Canadian Mental Health Association, visited Lusaka in April to lay the

groundwork for the project he visited Chainama Hills Mental Hospital to meet

with a group of consumers and hear their concerns. These covered a variety

of issues which would be familiar to consumers elsewhere, including problems

about finding employment, the need for support groups, and the impact of

discrimination.