Dear Didier,
Thank your for your report and for your ongoing commitment to HIFA as our Regional Coordinator for Africa for HIFA Country Representatives.
https://www.hifa.org/people/country-representatives
I was interested to read your conclusion:
"Despite the well-established relationship between noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health, mental health considerations were completely absent from the discussions. This omission reflects the ongoing challenges of integrating mental health into primary health care (PHC). It also underscores the need for greater awareness of the important role nutrition plays not only in physical health, but also in mental well-being."
Other HIFA colleagues can inform us, but my understanding is that global health bodies such as WHO make the case that NCDs and mental health should be addressed together, and the most important priority is to strengthen primary healthcare services:
https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/primary-health-care--a...
'Two billion people live with NCDs including heart or lung diseases, cancer and diabetes. Of the 18 million people dying under the age of 70 from NCDs every year, over 80% live in low- and middle-income countries, where access to quality services that focus on both prevention and care is limited or unaffordable. Nearly 1 billion people worldwide are estimated to live with mental, neurological and substance use disorders, 1 in 7 young people aged 10–19 experience mental health conditions, and more than 720 000 people die by suicide each year.'
'The primary health care approach offers the most inclusive, equitable and cost-effective way to tackle this crisis.'
I suspect that at national and local levels, perhaps there is less recognition of 'NCDs and mental health' being considered together?
Perhaps when people think of 'NCDs' they think primarily of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes... and think of mental health separately?
It would be interesting to know from the organisers of the Cameroon conference whether they deliberately excluded mental health. For example, perhaps the organisers considered "NCDs and mental health" as two distinct entities (the terms imply that they are distinct).
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org