Winter 2024 IAWMH Newsletter

Happy Holidays &

Happy New Year!

Thank you for your membership renewal or joining as a new member in January 2025! Membership is annual from January 1 to December 31.

https://iawmh.org/membership/

We hope to see you in Bangalore at the 10th World Congress on Women's Mental Health in March. For updated information and to register - click here!

President's Letter

Dear Members, Dear Colleagues

As the year comes to a close it is customary to look at the year gone by and focus on the year ahead.

We had decided that in 2024 we will focus on strengthening regional groups and have conferences in different parts of the world with IAWMH as a partner or collaborator.

The first Women’s Mental Health Regional Conference of the Middle East and North Africa for the IAWMH took place in Cairo Egypt.in June this year was one of the main highlights. Organized by our General Secretary, Prof. Gihan EL Nahas, the conference under the title: Advances in Women Mental Health Clinical Care, was the first of its kind to be held by the International Association for Women’s Mental Health in the MENA Region- hosted by the Neuropsychiatry Department-Ain Shams University as part of the activities of its 19^thInternational Annual Congress on Psychiatry. The conference was a great success and out women’s mental health on the map in the region!

IAWMH members and leadership had a key role in several other conferences around the world including the International Marce Conference for Perinatal Psychiatry in Barcelona, Spain and the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology in Dresden, Germany.

This year was also important as the very progressive EU Manifesto for Women’s Health 2024 was released. The European Institute of Women’s Health (EIWH) calls on the EU to commit to the reduction of health inequalities and provide equitable health for all women, through the provision of an EU Strategy for Women’s Health.

We believe that this will have a ripple effect and lead to changes in the attention to women’s health and mental health worldwide. https://eurohealth.ie/2024-womens-health-manifesto/

The year ended with the World Congress of Psychiatry in Mexico City where IAWMH members as well as leaders, past and present ensured that women’s mental health was on top of the agenda. Several symposia and panels discussed WMH to a packed audience– safe abortions across the world, women and the glass ceiling, addictions among women, gender based violence, perinatal mental health, women and autism, psychopharmacology in women were topics discussed among others. As president of IAWMH I was privileged to deliver a plenary talk on the global status of mental health of women and girls.

Right, IAWMH President Prabha Chandra presenting her plenary talk.

Past and Present IAWMH Presidents at the WPA Congress in Mexico City

Below from left, Florence Thibaut, Donna Stewart, Marta Rondon, Prabha Chandra and Helen Herrman

The section meeting (below) on WMH in Mexico City organized by Prof. Florence Thibaut who is the Chair of WPA Section on Women's mental health, served as a space for sharing, networking and learning from each other. The group consisted of early career professionals and senior leaders discussing the relevance of WMH and the need for adequate attention to the topic in all future conferences including ensuring balanced gender representation at all levels in congresses.

We are now eagerly waiting to meet you all at the 10th World Congress of Women’s Mental Health in Bangalore, India. With 12 plenaries by eminent speakers, nearly 68 symposia, 300 plus e posters and oral presentations and 10 pre-conference workshops, the conference has created a buzz and promises to be a great opportunity to network, collaborate and reflect on the future of women’s mental health in this rapidly changing world.

Wishing you all a peaceful year ending and hope you are able to unwind and get some much needed calm and rest.

Best regards

Prabha S. Chandra MD, FRCPE, FRCPsych, FAMS

IAWMH President

Click here for IAWMH Leadership

“Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.” Kofi Annan

Looking for news from our members!

As we are preparing IAWMH Newsletters we want to highlight our members'

activities, awards and news. Let us know what's happening that would be of interest to

other IAWMH members. Send your news to Debby Tucker at debra@iawmh.org to be

included in the next newsletter.