Every year the World Health Organization observes World Mental Health Day in the month of October. To mark this occasion, the Institute of Global Health Equity Research (IGHER) at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) will host an event to discuss child and adolescent mental health under the patronage of the Honorable Dr. Tharcisse Mpunga, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health.

The first part of the event will be organized around the Launch of the Rwandan Program and its method to screen the risk of depression among school children. The second part will be a webinar to discuss the Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents. This event will engage speakers from the Ministry of Health, WHO, Africa CDC, UGHE, RBC, CHUK, and expert psychiatrists from around the world.

The speakers will set out to discuss two important subjects, a reliable and easy-to-use, rapid depression screening tool and the effects of COVID-19 on children and adolescent’s mental health. The event will offer an opportunity for speakers to share evidence, promising practices, and lessons learned on children and adolescent mental health in different countries as well as what different institutions are doing to strengthen the leadership and advocacy for children and adolescent mental healthcare.

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Session 1: 1 – 1:40PM

The Launch of the Rwandan Program and its method to screen the risk of depression among school children. 

Guest of Honor:

Honorable Dr. Tharcisse Mpunga

Minister of State in the Ministry of Health of Rwanda

Dr. Tharcisse MPUNGA has over 15 years of experience in leadership in the Rwandan health care sector. As Director General of Butaro Hospital, he led the development and implementation of the Butaro Center of Excellence in Cancer Care (BCCOE) until his appointment as Rwanda’s Minister of State in Charge of Primary Health Care in 2020. Research is critical to guiding evidence-based cancer policy and programs in Rwanda and he has been heavily engaged in research, including collaborating with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute physicians, on a cluster randomized controlled trial of breast cancer early diagnosis in Burera District. He is now pursuing a doctoral degree in Cancer Epidemiology and studying infections associated with cancer in Rwanda. Dr. Tharcisse has published manuscripts about surgical oncologic care, the development of pathology capacity, and has led several projects assessing the use of telepathology services and building capacity for immunohistochemistry. He is invested in facilitating effective and feasible strategies for early detection of women’s cancers.

Speakers:

Dr. Baingana Florence,

Regional Advisor for Mental Health and Substance Use, WHO

Dr Baingana is a Psychiatrist (MMed Psychiatry) and Public Health Specialist (MSc. Health Policy, Planning and Financing), and is WHO Regional Advisor, Mental Health and Substance Abuse. She worked with WHO on and off beginning in 2014 in Liberia during the Ebola Epidemic, and then to Sierra Leone for post Ebola strengthening of the Mental Health services, to North east Nigeria to support the response to the Boko Haram Insurgency. From 2007 to 2014, Dr Baingana was a  Research Fellow with Makerere University School of Public Health and was PI Mental Health Beyond Facilities, a GCC funded project based at Makerere University School of Public Health 2012 to 2014, implemented in Uganda, Liberia and Nepal. Her goal is to strengthen mental health policy, planning and financing in sub Saharan Africa and other LMIC. She worked as National Mental Health Coordinator in Uganda from 1996 to 2000 where she was able to get mental health integrated into the health policy. From 2000 to 2006, she worked at the World Bank in Washington DC, doing analytic activities, knowledge management, operations and partnership activities.  She has an interest in the area of gender and health, and has consulted for Population Council, UNFPA, ECA and AU.

Dr. John N. Nkengasong, Msc, PhD

Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Prior to his current position, he served as the acting deputy principal director of the Center for Global Health, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC), and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch, Division of Global HIV and TB., U.S CDC.  He received a Masters in Tropical Biomedical Science at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and a Doctorate in Medical Sciences (Virology) from the University of Brussels, Belgium. He has received numerous awards for his work including Sheppard Award, the William Watson Medal of Excellence, the highest recognition awarded by CDC. He is also recipient of the Knight of Honour Medal by the Government of Cote d’Ivoire, was knighted in 2017 as the Officer of Loin by the President of Senegal, H.E. Macky Sall, and Knighted in November 2018 by the government of Cameroon for his significant contributions to public health. He is an adjunct professor at the Emory School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.  He serves on several international advisory boards including the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Initiative – CEPI, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) among others. He has authored over 250 peer-review articles in international journals and published several book chapters. 

Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped), PHD

Vice Chancellor, UGHE

Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped), PHD is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. She previously worked as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission, as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and as the Minister of Health.

She serves as a Senior Advisor to the Director General of the WHO, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Medical School, and Adjunct Clinical Professor at Dartmouth. She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. She has published over 190 peer-reviewed articles and was named among the 100 Most Influential African Women for 2020.

Sabin Nsanzimana, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCP

Director General, Rwanda Biomedical Center

Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana holds a Medical Degree (MD) and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the National University of Rwanda; a PhD in Epidemiology from Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel, Switzerland. 

He serves as a Fellow at the African Scientific Institute (ASI), a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCP Edin) and serves as Assistant Professor of Global Health at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and teaches Epidemiology and Research Methodology at the University of Rwanda. Dr Sabin is currently the Director General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre and has been working for the health sector for over 14 years with extensive experience in control of infectious diseases and research with more than 120 published scientific articles.

Eric Remera

HIV Surveillance and Research Director at the Rwanda Biomedical Center

Mr. Eric Remera is a trained biostatistician with a Master of Science degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Rwanda, School of Public Health and PhD candidate in Epidemiology at University of Basel, Swiss Tropical and Public health institute, Basel, Switzerland. He currently serves as the Director of HIV Surveillance and Research for the Institute of HIV, Disease Prevention and Control at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre. Mr. Remera has more than eleven years of experience in the programmatic design of delivery of prevention, care, treatment, and support service delivery for HIV, monitoring and evaluation, health system and observational and clinical research. As a researcher, he has extensive experience leading the development and implementation of study protocols, conducting data analyses, and the scientific communication of study findings. He has co-authored more than twenty peer-reviewed scientific publications and has presented research findings at national and international scientific conferences.

Dr. Darius Gishoma

Director of CHUK-Mental Health Department

Dr. Darius Gishoma is a practicing clinical psychologist, working as Senior Lecturer in the Mental Health Department, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda. He provides psychological services to adolescents and adults at the Mental health Department, Kigali University Teaching Hospital.  

Darius Gishoma has a track record of research and associated publications in the field of mental health In Rwanda. His primary area of research and publication is in treatment development and evaluation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression and Substance Abuse, Global Mental Health, maternal and child health and Community-based interventions. Darius Gishoma also serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Commissioners of the National Commission for Children, Rwanda.

Session 2: 1:40 – 3PM

The Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents

Host:

Prof. Timothy Carey

Director, Institute of Global Health Equity Research; Andrew Weiss Chair of Research in Global Health

Professor Timothy Carey is a scientist-practitioner who is a researcher, teacher, trainer, and clinician. He has worked as a clinical psychologist in rural and underserved communities in both Scotland and remote Australia. Tim has a PhD in Clinical Psychology, an MSc in Statistics, and a PostGraduate Certificate in Biostatistics as well as tertiary qualifications in teaching. His most recent academic roles have been Professor and Director of Flinders University’s Centre for Remote Health and Charles Darwin University’s Professor of Clinical Psychology in Health Equity in Alice Springs, Australia. TIm has served on national grant funding bodies as well as university Human Research Ethics Committees (the Australian equivalent of Institutional Review Boards) and teaches research methods at a postgraduate level. He has also secured research income as a Chief Investigator on competitively funded research projects. Tim is experienced in quantitative and qualitative methods as well as systematic reviews and enjoys using different research methods to answer novel, important, and difficult questions in order improve health services and health service delivery. A central focus of his work is the importance of control to health and wellbeing and recognition of internal conflict as a transdiagnostic explanation of psychological distress. He is also very interested in different cultural explanations of psychological distress and the importance of control cross-culturally. He has pioneered clinical innovations such as patient-led appointment scheduling and patient-perspective care. He has developed an efficient and effective cognitive therapy called the Method of Levels (www.methodoflevels.com.au) as well as a smartphone app called MindSurf. While working in the National Health Service in Scotland Tim led a program of practice-based research that resulted in a reduction in the waiting time to access psychological services from 15 months to less than 2 weeks using the patient-led model of appointment scheduling he had developed. He is a Fulbright Scholar who has over 150 publications including books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed publications. He also has a blog on Psychology Today called In Control where he writes about general topics related to successful and contented day to day living. He is currently working on a book explaining the application of a theory of control to understanding health and social inequity.

Chair:

Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped), PHD

Vice Chancellor, UGHE

Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped), PHD is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. She previously worked as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission, as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and as the Minister of Health.

She serves as a Senior Advisor to the Director General of the WHO, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Medical School, and Adjunct Clinical Professor at Dartmouth. She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. She has published over 190 peer-reviewed articles and was named among the 100 Most Influential African Women for 2020.

Speakers:

Dr. Baingana Florence,

Regional Advisor for Mental Health and Substance Use, WHO

Dr Baingana is a Psychiatrist (MMed Psychiatry) and Public Health Specialist (MSc. Health Policy, Planning and Financing), and is WHO Regional Advisor, Mental Health and Substance Abuse. She worked with WHO on and off beginning in 2014 in Liberia during the Ebola Epidemic, and then to Sierra Leone for post Ebola strengthening of the Mental Health services, to North east Nigeria to support the response to the Boko Haram Insurgency. From 2007 to 2014, Dr Baingana was a  Research Fellow with Makerere University School of Public Health and was PI Mental Health Beyond Facilities, a GCC funded project based at Makerere University School of Public Health 2012 to 2014, implemented in Uganda, Liberia and Nepal. Her goal is to strengthen mental health policy, planning and financing in sub Saharan Africa and other LMIC. She worked as National Mental Health Coordinator in Uganda from 1996 to 2000 where she was able to get mental health integrated into the health policy. From 2000 to 2006, she worked at the World Bank in Washington DC, doing analytic activities, knowledge management, operations and partnership activities.  She has an interest in the area of gender and health, and has consulted for Population Council, UNFPA, ECA and AU.

Dr. John N. Nkengasong, Msc, PhD

Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Prior to his current position, he served as the acting deputy principal director of the Center for Global Health, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC), and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch, Division of Global HIV and TB., U.S CDC.  He received a Masters in Tropical Biomedical Science at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and a Doctorate in Medical Sciences (Virology) from the University of Brussels, Belgium. He has received numerous awards for his work including Sheppard Award, the William Watson Medal of Excellence, the highest recognition awarded by CDC. He is also recipient of the Knight of Honour Medal by the Government of Cote d’Ivoire, was knighted in 2017 as the Officer of Loin by the President of Senegal, H.E. Macky Sall, and Knighted in November 2018 by the government of Cameroon for his significant contributions to public health. He is an adjunct professor at the Emory School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.  He serves on several international advisory boards including the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Initiative – CEPI, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) among others. He has authored over 250 peer-review articles in international journals and published several book chapters. 

Dr. Mawuena Agbonyitor

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Saint Joseph Mercy Care Services, USA

Dr Mawuena Agbonyitor grew up in Maryland, USA. She went to Harvard College where she majored in anthropology. She earned a Master’s of Science in Control of Infectious Disease from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and her medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Agbonyitor has interests in community psychiatry, street medicine, and global mental health. She is board certified in both psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She currently works as a psychiatrist at a community clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Dr. Jon Jureidini

Child psychiatrist, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Australia

Jon Jureidini is a child psychiatrist, also trained in philosophy (PhD, Flinders University), critical appraisal (University of British Columbia) and psychotherapy (Tavistock Clinic).  He heads Adelaide University’s Critical and Ethical Mental Health research group (CEMH), which conducts research, teaching and advocacy in order to promote safer, more effective and more ethical research and practice in mental health; and the Pediatric Mental Health Training Unit (PMHTU), providing training and support to medical students GPs, allied health professionals, teachers and counsellors in non-pathologizing approaches to primary care mental health with a focus on social determinants of health.

Dr. Sue Hawkridge

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Tygerberg Hospital, South Africa

Dr. Sue Hawkridge is Clinical Head of the child and adolescent psychiatry unit at Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town. She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, and a Clinical Associate in the Department of Psychology at Rhodes University. Her current service commitments include leading the clinical team of the Tygerberg unit, and outreach and support to child and adolescent mental health services and children’s institutions in the catchment area. Her areas of interest include early onset psychotic disorders, child and adolescent forensic psychiatry, pediatric psychopharmacology and child and adolescent community mental health services.