The WPA Action Plan 2020‐2023: an updated report
Afzal Javed
Abstract
The WPA has been severely affected in the past three years by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its after-effects, the war in Ukraine, and several other adversities in many regions of the world. However, all of its components have adapted their activities, learnt to work in new ways and sought innovative ways to support mental health professionals worldwide. We have focused in particular on selected areas – public mental health; early intervention in psychosis; managing comorbidity of mental and physical health problems; promotion of psychiatry among medical students1-10 – according to the priorities set out in our Action Plan 2020-2023, through the work of dedicated Working Groups. In 2020, the WPA has launched its Education Portal, which now houses many educational resources and online courses. Following the pandemic, online learning has emerged to be an everyday part of life. As such, the WPA has been committed in developing, implementing, supporting, collaborating on and co-sponsoring as many online courses and webinars as possible11. In the period 2021-2022, the WPA has uploaded on the Portal a series of learning modules and webinars covering a variety of topics. The system has also played a key role in the WPA's response to world emergencies – for example, through its extensive COVID-19 Mental Health Resources online library. The WPA has contributed significantly to the dissemination of the new ICD-11 Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Requirements, by sponsoring online courses which have provided psychiatrists and other mental health professionals with a well-structured and comprehensive learning experience. Following the overwhelmingly positive feedback of the November 2021 course, we ran another course in March 2022, with similar great success, and are now planning a Spanish version of the course in 2023. The WPA Scientific Sections have been holding video conferences and latterly in-person meetings on a quarterly basis. These meetings have become the marketplace for exchanging ideas about inter-sectional activities, such as joint research projects, papers, workshops and conferences12. The WPA has strengthened the activity of its Collaborating Centres, which have been involved in various scientific initiatives, including joint educational seminars and support to young psychiatrists in research and other related activities13. The WPA's Advisory Council on Response to Emergencies (ACRE) has addressed efficiently the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies, bringing together the leaders of the larger Member Societies to facilitate practical and concrete support to Member Societies in need. Concerning the war in Ukraine, the WPA has established an education resource center for mental health professionals – in Ukrainian, Russian and other languages – to help with the mental health challenges that people from Ukraine are currently facing. The ACRE has also raised funds for the Sri Lankan Member Society, providing support for buying psychotropic medicines, and for Afghan mental health professionals, offering ongoing support through the provision of medicines, patient assessments and training. We continued to work on our website (www.wpanet.org), in order to improve not only the user experience but also how we share relevant information. We also continue to work hard on our social channels and are regularly posting topical information on WPA events, news, articles, webinars, and lots more. As part of the WPA “Meet the Leaders” series, we have released interviews with the current Executive Committee and Council members. In this insightful series of interviews, leaders have not only shared a summary of their valuable contributions to the Association and the field of mental health in general over the years, but also their personal views on the contributions made by the WPA and its Member Societies. In 2021, we have launched the new WPA eNewsletter14. The need for information that is freely distributed and easily accessible remains an essential requirement in our lives today. We have been delighted to see how the eNewsletter has been positively received and we are motivated to continue this project. The eNewsletter is a quarterly review and provides an opportunity for all WPA components to share insights and experiences as we continue our essential work to address the mental health issues around the world. In October 2022, we launched a new educational project – the “WPA e-Journal Club”. This project consists of commentaries about the most relevant articles selected from the main scientific journals in psychiatry. World Psychiatry is the WPA official journal. It is published regularly in three languages (English, Spanish and Russian), with individual issues or articles also available on the WPA website in other languages (Chinese, French, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, Romanian and Polish). More than 60,000 mental health professionals regularly receive the electronic or the print version of the journal. All the back issues can be freely downloaded from the PubMed system and the WPA website. With an impact factor of 79.683, it was recently reaffirmed that World Psychiatry is ranked as no. 1 among all psychiatric journals and in the Social Sciences Citation Index, and no. 5 among all the journals in the Clinical Medicine category. In August 2022, we were delighted to hold our first in-person World Congress in two years. In collaboration with the Psychiatric Association of Thailand (supported by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Thailand and the Department of Mental Health, Thailand), we welcomed mental health care professionals to the beautiful city of Bangkok. Under the theme “Psychiatry 2022: The Need for Empathy and Action”, we examined and discussed all the critical issues in psychiatry and mental health today and in the future. More than 2,400 registered participants from 100 countries joined the Congress. For the first time, we were also happy to be able to present travel awards to one trainee psychiatrist and two medical students, allowing them to join us in Bangkok and benefit from the in-person learning and networking opportunities. In addition, we were pleased to award 25 fellowships to young psychiatrists from 17 countries to help support them in their careers and research work. Along with World Congresses, the WPA has maintained its tradition of organizing regional and thematic congresses in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas during the current triennium15. When approaching the conclusion of the triennium, we continue to face challenges following the global crises and their consequential impact on mental health. The WPA, however, stands motivated and inspired by the commitment and hard work of our fellow professionals when dealing with such difficult situations. The WPA looks forward to the future with enthusiasm and confidence, convinced that it will be able to transform new challenges into opportunities. Let's shape the future of psychiatry and mental health together.