National Center of Public Health and Analyses in Bulgaria hosts national expert meeting on Mental Health Program

24-10-2016

On 19 October 2016, the National Center of Public Health and Analyses (NCPHA) in Bulgaria organized an expert meeting in Sofia on the draft National Mental Health Program. The purpose of the meeting was to reach consensus on the updated version of the document. The event received large media coverage in the national television, press and radio.

Participants were representatives of partners and stakeholders, such as Ministry of Health, Bulgarian Psychiatric Association, mental health professionals, groups of users and of health care providers, non-governmental organizations and hospitals. The programme manager of the Mental Health programme, WHO Regional Office for Europe, and the Head of the WHO Country Office of Bulgaria also attended the meeting. The meeting also provided a platform for discussion on the future steps to strengthen the mental health of the citizens of Bulgaria and further develop the mental health services provided in the country.

Results of the meeting

The participants reached consensus on the strategy that is part of the draft Mental Health Program and provided their professional input on the implementation of the plan
A final version of the National Mental Health program will be submitted with the Action Plan to the Ministry of Health of Bulgaria by 15 November 2016.

Background

Since 2001 Bulgaria has implemented a number of activities in the frame of the first National Mental Health Program 2001-2005 and then the National Mental Health Strategy and Plan of Action 2006-2012. In 2015, a comprehensive analysis of the psychiatric services was presented to the Ministry of Health and the Parliamentary Commission on Health. As a result, the Ministry of Health gave a recommendation for a new National Mental Health Program to NCPHA.

With the technical and financial support of WHO, experts from NCPHA have prepared the draft version of the National Mental Health Program and Action Plan. This has been disseminated for review and comments to all the stakeholders. The resulting version was discussed during the meeting that was held in Sofia on 19 October 2016.