Asian Journal of Psychiatry 2 (2009) 87–89

Short communication

Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations (AFPA) update

Russell D’Souza a,*, Afzal Javed b

a Treasurer Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations, Australiab Secretary Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations, UK

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Asian Journal of Psychiatry

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Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations (AFPA) continuesto be actively involved in organizing a number of educationaltraining and capacity building activities in Asian countries duringthe year. A number of avenues such as teaching, training andservice provision have been targeted during this period. Some ofthe activities followed in 2008 are being included in this issue ofthe Asian Journal of Psychiatry.

1. Disaster management activities in Myanmar and China

AFPAmemberswereveryactivelycollaboratingthroughtheAsianDisaster Network for the support of professionals in China andMyanmar after the cyclones and earthquake. This task force initiatedtraining activities and is currently in consultation with theprofessionals working in these countries for more structuredprograms. These include a psychosocial rehabilitation program forthe disaster affected patients in Myanmar. A task force led by Dr.Russell D’Souza and included Dr. Afzal Javed, Prof Suresh Sundram,Dr. Aye Aye Bartlet, Dr. Theresa Wong of the Burmese MedicalAssociation of Australia went to Myanmar on the invite of theMyanmar Medical Association and visited affected areas. A ‘‘train thetrainer’’ program was implemented and plans developed for apsychosocial rehabilitationprogramtobeimplemented overthenexttwo years by the Asian Disaster Network, Burmese MedicalAssociation of Australia and Australian Government’s AustralianGovernment Aid arm.

2. Training course on child psychiatry at Dhaka, Fiji,Kathmandu, and Kuala Lumpur

A teaching and training programme specially tailored in themanagement of child and adolescent psychiatry held on 11–12August, 2008, Dhaka, Bangladesh was completed successfully withProf S.A. Naqvi, from California, USA. Fifty participants participatedin this training program. This program was held at the NationalInstitute of Mental Health at Dhaka and had psychiatrists,paediatricians, psychologists, social workers trainee, and post-graduate psychiatrists from different parts of the country. Twopsychiatrists from Myanmar were also supported to participate inthis course.

This program on child and adolescent psychiatry was also heldat Suva (Fiji), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) by

* Corresponding author.

E-mail address: russell.f.dsouza@gmail.com (R. D’Souza).

1876-2018/$ – see front matter � 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2009.04.007

Prof Naqvi during the month of August. Fiji and Nepal courses wasattended by psychologists, social workers, school principals, andpeople working in addiction related issues and child protectiveservices. In Kula Lumpur (Malaysia) the training was given tophysicians, psychiatrists, and child and adolescent psychiatrists,and included case presentation and discussions.

We are delighted to learn this capacity building exercise at Fiji,Nepal, and Bangladesh, was the first ever pioneer teaching, trainingworkshop and evaluations of cases conducted in child andadolescent psychiatry by a child and adolescent psychiatristexpert.

3. Training course on child psychiatry, Mumbai, India, July 2008

A regional course on child psychiatry was organized by Dr.Mohandas and Dr. Shastri at Mumbai, India where delegates fromPakistan and Malaysia participated along with the trainees fromIndia.

This Child and Adolescent Skill Training Program was con-ceptualized at Lahore during the launch of AFPA at a WPA meetingon 15th February 2007. All the senior members and experts in thefield of psychiatry present during the discussion supported thisprogram as there was a need of special training in developing skillsto manage ‘‘Child and Adolescent Mental Health’’ in the developingcountries in Asia. Asian Federation of Psychiatric Association’ssenior asian psychiatrist of the region and beyond made planningand implementation of this first skill training program possible.The program outline was prepared with consultation from stakeholders and conceived to develop a successful training model thatwill also be used for future child and adolescent training programplanned in the Asian regions.

4. ASEAN meeting, Bangkok, August 2008

Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations (AFPA) co spon-sored the 11th Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)psychiatric federation congress held at Bangkok from 25–29August 2009. This was a well attended conference with partici-pants from all over the Asian countries and an impressiverepresentation of renowned mental health experts from all overthe world. Prof Pichet Udomratn, Immediate past President ofASEAN and current President of Thailand Psychiatric Associationand Vice President of AFPA-ASEAN was the Convener and he andhis team worked very hard to make this event a great success. AFPAparticipated with symposium and scientific sessions. AFPA’sexecutive with the leadership of Prof Shinfuku, President AFPA

R. D’Souza, A. Javed / Asian Journal of Psychiatry 2 (2009) 87–8988

and many of its members took an active part in the scientificdeliberations of this meeting, during this period AFPA had its boardmeeting, a breakfast meeting for the Presidents of Asian PsychiatricAssociations and the Asian pre launch breakfast meeting for theAsian Journal of Psychiatry with Prof Shinfuku President AFPA andProf Pedro Ruiz President elect of WPA and Editorial Board memberspeaking at this Asian Pre Launch. The AFPA leadership receivedoverwhelming support from its member societies for the work andvision of AFPA in its important role in the aiming to achieveexcellence in Asian Psychiatry and uplifting the mental health carein the Asian region.

5. WPA Prague congress, September 2008

At this world congress, AFPA organized a number of symposia.AFPA board members would like to congratulate membership ofAFPA for a wider recognition of this organisation at WPA meetingheld in Prague. AFPA’s presence was very prominent by presence ofits office bearers and Presidents of Asian Psychiatric Associations atthis prestigious congress.

One of the salient features of AFPA activities at this worldcongress was the launch of Asian Journal of Psychiatry, the officialpublication of AFPA. The Launch meeting was attended by ProfMario Maj President, Prof Pedro Ruiz President elect, EC membersincluding Prof Miguel Jorge, Prof Tarek Okasha, Dr. Akiyama andthe vast majority of the zonal representatives representingdifferent zones. Presence of most of the Asian Presidents of AsianPsychiatric Associations showed the great unity in the region andthe participation of many other Presidents and representativesfrom other national and regional associations including APA, RoyalCollege of Psychiatrists, UK, APAL, ASEAN, and SAARAC highlightedthe emerging position of AFPA on the international scene.

The hard work of Prof Keshavan, Editor in Chief and Dr. RussellD’Souza, the managing editor of the Journal was appreciated by allthe participants. Congratulations were also conveyed to Elsevier,the publisher of this Journal for their close collaboration withAFPA.

6. SAARC meeting Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1–3 November 2008

Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations co sponsored theSouth Asian Association regional cooperation psychiatric federa-tion congress at Dhaka. SAARC is an important component of AFPA.A high quality scientific program with academic programpresented by senior South Asian psychiatrist was part of thisconference. The South Asian Forum International on Mental Healthand Psychiatry which is an integral part of Asian Fereration ofPsychiatric Associations had it’s Board meeting.

7. PRCP meeting, Tokyo, Japan, 30 October–2 November 2008

AFPA actively participated and collaborated in the Pacific RimCollege of Psychiatrist conference at Tokyo on the invite of thechair of PCRP conference organizing committee Prof Noda and ProfAkiyama. The AFPA Symposium themed AFPA’s role in achievingexcellence in Asian Psychiatry’ was presented by speakers ProfShinfuku President of AFPA, Prof Deva Founder of AFPA, Dr. RussellD’Souza Treasurer AFPA there was good attendance and robustpositive discussions on achieving this goal of excellence thisoutcome for Asian Psychiatry.

8. IRBD ASIA meeting, Hong Kong, 24–26 November 2008

For the first time in its 8-year history the International Reviewof Bipolar Disorders (IRBD), one of the world’s leading annualBipolar Disorders conference, came to the Asia Pacific region. AFPA

along with SAF International and WPA Section on Psychiatry inDeveloping Countries co sponsored and brought this educationalevent to Asia. This meeting had clinicians, researchers, andacademicians from Europe US and Asia come together anddeliberate the presentation, trajectory, challenges, and modelsof treatment and care across the three continents. AFPA’s moodDisorders section and South Asian Forum International presentedsymposia at this meeting. Speakers included Dr. Russell D’Souza,Australia, Prof Ellie Karam, Lebanon, Prof Mohandas, India, ProfUdmoratn, Thailand, Prof Habbil, Malaysia, Prof Kanba, Japan, ProfKyooseob, Korea, and Prof Mak, Hong Kong. The Internationalreview of Bipolar Disorders Asia Pacific and the Asian Federationof Psychiatric Associations will be organising annual meetings tobe held in major cites of Asia Pacific region. The IRBD Asia Pacificconference will take place in Kochi, India on September 25–27th2009 this promises to an outstanding meeting with outstandingspeakers Prof Hagop Akiskal, San Diego, Prof Garry Sachs, Harvard,Boston, Prof Tohen, USA, and other distinguished researchers andclinicians from Europe USA and India confirmed their participa-tion. There are plans to host this IRBD-Asia Pacific conference inMalaysia, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, andJapan.

9. Launch of the Asian Journal of Psychiatry in Australia 13thDecember 2008

The Indo Australasian Psychiatry Association hosted a dinnerfunction at the Sofitel Melbourne where the Asian Journal of

Psychiatry was officially launched in Australia by the HonourableDaniel Andrews the Minister of Health Government of VictoriaAustralia. Dr. Russell D’Souza Managing editor of the Journalchaired the function with Prof Suresh Sundram Co Editorintroducing the Journal its aims objective, and scope includingsubmitting information. The Honourable Dr. Geoff Gallop, SydneyUniversity and former Premier of Western Australia delivered theKey lecture titled ‘Anxiety, Hope and Politics’ to the distinguisheddinner guests. Sample copies of the Journal were available.

10. Training at Mongolia, 9–13th December 2008

AFPA organised a course on teaching of child psychiatry atMongolia in conjunction with the Government of Mongolia andWHO. The course was held in Ulaanbaatar city and about 40participants (psychiatrists from all 21 areas, district psychiatristsand child psychiatrists from hospitals) attended this programwhich was deemed a great success and an important part of thecapacity building program that works towards achieving excel-lence in Asian Psychiatry.

11. 62 Annual National Congress of Indian Psychiatric Society,Agra, India, 8–11th January 2009 and sub continent launch ofAFPA’s Asian Journal of Psychiatry

This meeting had an active collaboration and participation ofAFPA. It was attended by over 2500 delegates that includedPresidents and representatives of national societies in Asian region,Asian psychiatrists from USA, UK, Australia, Canada and NewZealand. Prof Nada Stotland President of the American PsychiatricAssociation, Prof Dinesh Bhugra President of the Royal College ofPsychiatrists of UK, Prof George Vaillant of Harvard UniversityBoston and other distinguished psychiatrist attended and pre-sented lectures. At the opening ceremony the Sub continent launchof the Asian Journal of Psychiatry by Prof Mohandas the newPresident of the Indian Psychiatric Society, this was followed by adinner hosted by the Indian Psychiatric Society. Prof Keshavan

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Editor in Chief of the Asian Journal of Psychiatry and Vice ChairHarvard University Boston USA delivered a number of lectures.

12. First Asian workshop on schizophrenia research, Osaka,Japan, 31st January–2nd February 2009

Prof Takeda, the Chairman of Department of Psychiatry OsakaUniversity, Japan, hosted the inaugural Asian SchizophreniaResearch workshop which was attended by researchers from 3countries in Asia representing East Asia, South East Asia, South Asiaand Australia. Prof John Kane President of the InternationalSchizophrenia Research Society presented a key lecture and invitedthe Asian Schizophrenia researchers to join the ISRS. AFPA’sschizophrenia section had their meeting with Co Chairs Prof SureshSundram and Prof Takeda and members from India, Thailand,Cambodia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh participating.

13. AFPA’S 2nd world congress of Asian psychiatry, Taipei,7–9th November 2009

Preparations are well into progress for the AFPA’s 2nd worldcongress of Asian psychiatry that is being hosted by the TaiwanSociety of Psychiatry. An outstanding scientific program togetherwith a high quality teaching training and capacity buildingprogram is being planned with distinguished speakers from Asiaand the world participating. Key note speakers include Prof RobertBellmaker President Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychophar-macologicum, Prof Pedro Ruiz President Elect World PsychiatricAssociation, Prof Ming Tsuang of UCLA San Diego and Prof MatcheriKeshavan vice chair of Harvard University Boston USA and Editor inChief Asian Journal of Psychiatry. The local organising committee isbeing chaired by Prof Cheng-Chung Chen and with Prof WinstonChen chairing the scientific committee.