EU and WHO organized training of trainers to support mental health services in Azerbaijan

The event began with the opening session with the participation of Prof. Fuad Ismayilov, the Director of the Mental Health Center of the Ministry of Health, Dr Nehmat Rahmanov, the Head of the Division of Organization of Primary HealthCare Service of TABIB, and Dr Aygun Guluzadeh, the Specialist of the Specialized Medical Assistance Service Department. During the event, Prof. Fuad Ismayilov made a presentation on the organization of mental health services in Azerbaijan, whereas Dr Nehmat Rahmanov talked about the organization of primary healthcare services.

The 5-day training was conducted by Dr Nino Makhashvili, an internationally certified mhGAP Trainer, and aimed at building a local training team consisting of psychiatrists and primary healthcare doctors. These 20 trainers are planned to train primary care physicians in designated regions of the project to identify, manage and navigate the most common mental health disorders.

The training included sessions on mental health disorders such as clinical depression, post-traumatic stress, and stress as well as basic principles of the adequate approach to people seeking help. Furthermore, group work was conducted to advance the presentation and facilitation skills of future trainers. On the last day, the participants divided into different teams conducted training sessions on the selected topics. The training ended with the award of certificates to participants.

The Coordination and Transformation of Mental Health Services in Post-conflict Settings is an EU-funded project being implemented by WHO Azerbaijan to improve mental healthcare services at the primary care level. The project aims to help establish multidisciplinary coordination mechanism for MHPSS and to build mental healthcare response capacity in PHC facilities. This project is part of the continued support of the European Union and the WHO to Azerbaijan.