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2003 year-end summary
The year
started with a highlight when Janssen-Cilag committed to a three-year
educational grant towards the MHIC (thank you!), and then progressed
with many psychoeducation, research and mental health promotion
high points. We are grateful to the sponsors of all our activities,
particularly Lundbeck for continuing their annual sponsorship
to the Centre. We are delighted at having established new working
relations with a variety of mental health advocacy, support,
research, academic and professional groups, as well as being
able to continue our collaborations with partners such as the
Dept of Health: Mental Health Programme, SASOP, SANS, SADAG,
Alzheimer’s SA, the Memory Clinics, to name a few. It
has been an honour to work with international mental health
groups such as the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH),
European Dana Alliance for the Brain (EDAB), Dana Alliance for
Brain Initiatives (DABI), Global Alliance for Mental Illness
Advocacy Networks (GAMIAN), and more recently, the World Health
Organisation (WHO). We look forward to a New Year where we can
continue collaborative work in our focus areas, as summarised
below reporting on some of our 2003 outputs.
Psycoeducation
The
MHIC updated and published three books this year of which one,
Psychiatric Medications in Primary Care: Algorithms and Guidelines,
was used as bases for the National Dept of Health’s Standard
Treatment Guidelines for Common Mental Health Conditions. The
Algorithm book was again considered prescribed material by the
Dept of Family Medicine and Primary Care, and selected chapters
were made available on the Internet both by our own website
and ecpdSA.
We hosted
3 CME’s and 15 educational talks covering an array of
mental health topics although focusing mainly on the anxiety
disorders. The MHIC coordinated 3 full-day workshops and undertook
to present a series of talks at Old Mutual head office during
2003 and 2004.
Educational
talk on memory and Alzheimer’s Disease held at the Panorama
Medi-Clinic
Of course,
2003 was time again for a Spier Psychopharmacology Congress,
and we co-hosted this biannual event with the Biological Psychiatry
Special Interest Group and the SA Neurosciences Society. Both
the main Conference and the GP workshop received excellent feedback,
thanks in a large part due to the work of Dr Liezl Koen and
Jane Metelo-Liquito.
We are particularly
pleased at being approached to lecture to the final year medical
students on stigma in psychiatry and mental health promotion.
Whereas we were allocated 4 sessions in 2003, we will be speaking
to 12 groups in 2004. We continued our collaboration with the
Dept Nursing at Stellenbosch University, providing a rotation
in community psychiatry to all final year BCur students as well
as ran a support group for the postgraduates.
The MHIC
website was continuously updated with new information and links
and generated much interest. We received 134 000 hits the past
year, with an average of over 11 000 requests a month. October,
Mental Health Awareness Month, was our busiest month with 13
500 hits. A huge thank you to Johnny Daniels for keeping our
website current.
Our Call
Centre was busy throughout the year and received over 2000 calls,
the majority originating from the Western Cape (60%) although
we also managed many calls from the Gauteng (16%), Free State
(8%), Kwazulu Natal (7%) and Eastern Cape (5%). Most callers
were patients (37%) or family of patients (27%) although we
are pleased that the number of health professionals has increased
from 21% in 2002 to 24% in 2003. This is in line with our greater
focus on professional education and support. Callers most often
had queries relating to the anxiety (29%) and mood (24%) disorders,
ADHD and other childhood disorders (15%) or psychotic conditions
(10%). Many requested a referral to a mental health professional
(22%), information on support/family management (19%), or medication
(15%).
Jane
with a group of nursing students rotating through our Call Centre
Research
The MRC Unit on Anxiety and Stress Disorders has been in operation
for 5 years and in that time has made considerable impact in
psychiatry research and community outreach. The past year has
seen many highlights, including the renewal for further MRC
support and the many accolades and achievements of its researchers
and members. Congratulations to Prof Dan Stein who was awarded
a RO1 Supplementary Grant for fMRI study, Dr Soraya Seedat who
received a MRC Career Award, and Joalida Smit who won the Hendrik
Vrouwes Research Scholarship for Mental Health. Joalida will
be using this funding for her HIV/AIDS studies. Dr Jacqueline
Muller received a MRC fellowship for 2004, while Christine Lochner
received a renewal of her MRC fellowship for 2004. Well done
all!
The MRC
Unit is currently working on many projects within 7 focus areas:
1) the psychobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder; 2) the
psychobiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder; 3) brain imaging
of anxiety disorders; 4) genetics of anxiety disorders; 5) animal
models of anxiety disorders; 6) HIV/AIDS and behavioural science,
and 7) mental health promotion. As the psychoeducation arm of
the Unit we continue to liaise with the media and assist with
recruitment for clinical and academic trials.
A major
happening for the neurosciences in Africa was the donation of
R2 million by H Lundbeck A/S International to the Department
of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University earlier this year. This
will go towards establishing an Institute for Neuroscience in
Africa. The Institute will be a research and training facility
aimed at developing research capacity and collaborating with
other educational institutions throughout Africa.
We are
currently working on a WHO Atlas Research: Mental Health Research
in Low and Middle Income Countries project. Not only does this
underscore our role in mental health research locally, but it
also provides a learning experience that will strengthen our
links with international organisations such as the WHO.
Mental
health awareness/promotion
The MHIC had the opportunity to submit information and case
studies for a joint WHO/WFMH report on mental health promotion.
Charmaine was invited to attend a GAMIAN meeting in New York,
NY, forging new relations with research and advocacy groups
from across the globe.
As has
become the custom, we coordinated two national education and
awareness campaigns. Both were collaborative events representing
professional and lay mental health organizations from across
the country. Neither would have been possible without our numerous
partners and generous funders – Thank You !! Special mention
goes to the Biological Psychiatry Special Interest Group, Dept
Health: Mental Health Programme, EDAB/DABI, Janssen-Cilag, Novartis,
Panorama Medi-Clinic, Pfizer, Psychiatric Focus Forum, SASOP,
and University of Stellenbosch: Dean’s Office.
-
Brain Awareness Week (10 – 16 March 2003):
2003 BAW kicked-off with a Media Tea which was well attended.
This lead to 21 radio interviews, 10 newspaper and 20 internet
articles! Other BAW activities included a neurosciences crossword
puzzle competition, 8 public education talks, 2 free memory
testing sessions and a full-day neurosciences workshop
Participants at the BAW Neurosciences workshop learning about
the use of art therapy in cognitive rehabilitation
- National
Anxiety Disorders Awareness Week (6 – 12 October 2003):
Continuing a tradition of the past 7 years, the MHIC hosted
a National Anxiety Disorders Awareness Week (NADAW) during
the week of World Mental Health Day, 10 October. The theme
for this year, as decided by WFMH, was “Emotional and
behavioural disorders of children and adolescents”.
In keeping with this theme, we released numerous press alerts,
resulting in 5 radio interviews, 13 electronic media articles
and 5 newspaper articles.
Our focus for the 2003 NADAW campaign was the 2nd annual National
Mental Health Media Awards. Minister Piet Meyer, WC MEC for
Health, presented the keynote address at this prestigious
event. Ilse Pauw of Health24 was voted as winner in the Radio/TV/Internet
category as well as Overall winner by our national panel,
while Adèle Hamilton of Fair Lady won the Magazine
category and Di Caelers of the Argus the Newspaper category.
Two Certificates of Special Recognition were presented, to
Radio 702 and to SABC Radio & TV for their support of
the “Real Mean, Real Depression” campaign run
by the SADAG.
Taken
at the Media Awards presentation: Charmaine Hugo (MHIC), Di
Caelers (Newspaper winner), Piet Meyer (MEC for Health), Ilze
Pauw (Radio, TV & Internet winner as well as Overall 2003
winner), Adèle Hamilton (Magazine winner) and Jane Metelo-Liquito
(MHIC)
The MHIC
liaised with the media throughout the year and not only during
major awareness campaigns. We assisted numerous journalists
to prepare articles for lay audiences and often acted as point
of referral to mental health professionals, researchers and
consumers. This contributed towards our taking part in 40 radio
interviews, 15 magazine articles, 26 newspaper articles, 34
Internet-hosted articles and 15 other forms of popular media.
We would
like to thank all those who have collaborated with us throughout
the year. We look forward to working with you again in 2004
to achieve our joint goals of promoting mental health in South
Africa. A special thank you to our sponsors and those who have
contributed financially towards the MHIC. Without your support
we would not have reached our goals for the year.
Finally,
we would like to wish you all a safe and peaceful Festive Season
and a prosperous New Year.
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