According to a cooperation protocol between the Ministry of Health’s Mental Health and Addiction Treatment department, and the Coptic Orthodox Church’s Synodal Committee for Mental Health and Battling Addiction, the Ministry of Health has offered the Church the first training course on mental health.
The training course aimed at increasing awareness among teachers and parents on mental health, and the role of schools in supporting vulnerable children and adolescents, Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population explained. The course looks to enhance the skills of early detection of mental problems and disorders, and the identification of effective strategies to help children with psychological disorders.
Dr Abdel-Ghaffar pointed out that mental health is on top of the Ministry of Health’s priorities, explaining that mental health services have been included among the services provided in primary health care units across Egypt. They have been included among the pre-marriage medical checkups that are now mandatory, Dr Abdel-Ghaffar pointed out.
Some 50 trainees working in the primary and middle school stages in Cairo churches, took the training course, Menan Abdel-Maqsoud, Secretary General of the Ministry of Health’s General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment said, explaining that this course is a simplified introduction to educational psychology, and aims at ensuring that parents and educators have adequate awareness of dealing with the mental health condition of those in their charge.
Watani International
1 January 2024