Year-End 2023 IAWMH Newsletter

YEAR-END 2023

President's Letter

Dear members,

As we bid adieu to 2023, its time to look back at the year with thoughtfulness and reflection. Women the world over are dealing with challenges and mental health concerns more than ever before. There are multiple issues to grapple with- the aftermath of the COVID 19 pandemic both for physical and mental health of women, the conflicts in different regions of the world and the overwhelming impact of climate change. To sustain our efforts and hope in the middle of these challenging situations globally needs collaboration and coming together. We also will need to discover newer ways of using social media and technology for the larger good of the mental health of women.

Members of the IAWMH have been active in working locally and using their expertise to discuss problems with key stakeholders, collaborating internationally and finding ways of reaching women who need our help the most. Our online course on psychopharmacology in the perinatal period has also attracted a lot of attention and interest.

The World Psychiatric Congress in Vienna saw the IAWMH membership participating in many symposia, plenaries and workshops. We were authors of several of the position statements in the fields of perinatal mental health and gender based violence. Our leadership had an active role in the conference.

The Inaugural Asia-Pacific Conference on Women's Mental Health (APWMH), hosted by HER Centre Australia in collaboration with IAWMH, took place in Melbourne, Australia in October. Prof. Jayashri Kulkarni, our past president organized this successful conference with the central theme, 'Metamorphosis: Women’s Mental Health Through the Lifespan'.

As we set the stage for our World Congress in 2025 at Bangalore, we are also aware that we need to be visible in different regions of the world. To meet this need, in 2024 we propose to have two meetings that will focus on mental health issues of women in different regions. For the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region where many women are currently facing huge adversities, we plan to have an Online MENA Conclave in the middle of 2024 that will be chaired by Prof. Gihan El Nahas, our Secretary.

The One day South Asian Regional Conclave will be held in Colombo in June, 2024 chaired by Prof. Jayan Mendis from the Kothalawala Defence University, Colombo. We hope that these two regional meetings will pave the way for a wonderful and meaningful gathering of minds in March 2025 in Bangalore, India.

Please look out for information on the above two meetings on our website. Please reach out to us if you want to contribute ideas for any of our upcoming conferences.

Wishing everyone a healthy, peaceful and gentle 2024!

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

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15 CME Hours - SELF-LEARNING MODULES

Psychotropic Medications in Pregnancy and Lactation

IAWMH is pleased to offer a Self Learning Module on Psychotropic Medications in Pregnancy and Lactation that will earn 15 CME hours, accredited by American Association of Continuing Medical Education (AACME), upon successful scoring of the knowledge assessment test upon completion of your study.

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These extensive modules were developed by Dr Gihan ELNahas, IAWMH Secretary, and

Prof of Psychiatry, Head of Liaison Psychiatry Unit, Head of Women Mental Health Program, Head of Tobacco Control and Cessation Unit, Chair CME Committee, Institute of Psychiatry-Ain Shams Medical School, Cairo, Egypt and Florence Thibaut, M.D., Ph.D., IAWMH Immediate Past President, and Professor of Psychiatry, University Hospital Cochin Paris,Sorbonne-Paris Cité University with Paris Cité University, France.

IAWMH is grateful and appreciative to Drs. ElNahas and Thibaut for the countless hours spent planning, preparing and creating these modules.

IAWMH Members are Complimentary. $10 for a CME Certificate.

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IAWMH at the WPA 2023 in Vienna

Many IAWMH Members and Leadership attended and presented at the recent 2023 World Psychiatric Association Congress in Vienna.

President Prabha Chandra and Past President Marta Rondon co-chaired a symposium, VIOLENCE IN WOMEN’S LIVES. The program:

Immediate Past President Florence Thibaut presented, WOMEN AS SEX OFFENDERS.
IAWMH President-elect Judith Usall i Rodié presented, CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND ITS RELATION TO CLINICALOUTCOMES OF FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS IN WOMEN.
IAWMH Secretary Gihan ElNahas presented, INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
IAWMH President Prabha Chandra presented, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIENCED BY PREGNANT WOMEN AND MOTHERS OF YOUNG CHILDREN- FINDINGS FROM AN URBAN COHORT IN INDIA.

IAWMH President Prabha Chandra conducted the course, OPTIMAL CARE FOR THE MOTHER AND INFANT IN SEVERE POSTPARTUM PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY with Claudia Klier, Ranga Rao and Nabagata Das.

The symposium, SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND WOMEN'S MENTAL HEALTH IN THE XXIST CENTURY, was chaired by IAWMH Immediate Past President Florence Thibaut and Member Josyan Madi-Skaff. IAWMH President Prabha Chandra and Past President Marta Rondon also presented at this symposium.

From left, Natalia Semenova, IAWMH Past President Marta Rondon, IAWMH Past President Donna Stewart, IAWMH Member Josyan Madi-Skaff and IAWMH President Prabha Chandra.

The symposium, IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH IN PERSONS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS, was co-chaired by IAWMH Past President Helen Herrman, who also presented, OUT OF HOME CARE, HOMELESSNESS AND MENTAL ILL-HEALTH AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE. IAWMH President Prabha Chandra presented at this symposium, THE MENTAL HEALTH RISKS AND RESOURCES OF WOMEN EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS.

The symposium, GLOBAL ASPECTS OF ABORTION, was chaired by IAWMH Member Gail Robinson who also presented, ABORTION LEGISLATION IN CANADA AND THE USA AFTER OVERTURNING ROE V WADE. IAWMH Past President Marta Rondon presented, ABORTION SOUTH OF RIO GRANDE, at this symposium.

Immediate Past President Florence Thibaut co-chaired a symposium, SUICIDALITY IN EUROPEAN WOMEN: FINDING STRENGTHS TO OVERCOME UNCERTAIN TIMES TOGETHER.

Past President Donna Stewart presented on the panel, ETHICAL PROBLEM DISCUSSION.

IAWMH President Prabha Chandra and Past President Anita Riecher-Rössler co-chaired the symposium, TREATMENT UPDATES SESSION: TREATMENT OF MENTAL DISORDERS IN THE PERIPARTUM.

IAWMH Past President Anita Riecher-Rössler conducted a course, PSYCHOPHARMACOTHERAPY IN PREGNANCY.

IAWMH President-elect Judith Usall i Rodié presented, GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN MENTAL HEALTH, as part of the symposium, WOMEN AS VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS OF SERIOUS CRIME.

The APA/WMH section members met during WPA and took this photo upon electing their board, now chaired by IAWMH Immediate Past President Florence Thibaut.

MEMBER NEWS

IAWMH President Prabha Chandra and IAWMH Past Presidents Marta Rondon and Donna Stewart participated in the "2nd Congress on Mental Health Throughrout the Life Cycle" held recently in Lima, Peru. Dr. Stewart spoke about antidepressants in pregnancy. Dr. Rondon talked about prevention in women's mental health and also participated in The Lancet psych commission on violence panel with Joan Marsh, Marion Henderson and Dr. Chandra.

Dr. Stewart went to the maternity center to deliver a talk on the management of perinatal depression.

Dr Stewart with Carlos Alvarado, head of ginecólogy and obstetrics, INMP and Luis Meza, head of Teaching and research at INMP

IAWMH Immediate Past President Florence Thibaut attended and spoke at a conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in October 2023. She gave several talks about women’s mental health. IAWMH Member Daria Smirnova also presented.

IAWMH President Prabha Chandra delivered a keynote lecture on Perinatal Anxiety at the Asia Pacific Women's Mental Health Conference in Melbourne, Australia organized by Past President, Jayashri Kulkarni.

In India, a highly successful National Conference on Women's Mental Health and Perinatal Psychiatry was organized by the Speciaity Section of the Indian Psychiatric Society with a unique session on Blitz Presentations by Early career professionals on contemporary topic in women's mental health - IAWMH member Ruksheda Syeda, Sundarnag Ganjekar, Geetha Desai and President Prabha Chandra presented at the meeting.

President Prabha Chandra and IAWMH member, Prof. Jane Fisher presented a satellite symposium on maternal mental health at the International Maternal and Newborn Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, May 2023

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.

UPCOMING EVENTS