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Call for Abstracts: Community-Engaged Approaches to Addressing Mental Health and Other Non-Communicable Diseases

Send an email to Sandy Hoar, hoar@gwu.edu if you are interested in possibly submitting  an abstract, to receive updates, or for any questions.

The Community-Based Primary Health Care (CBPHC) Working Group of the International Health Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA) presents a one day Pre-Conference to the APHA Annual Meeting in Atlanta, USA

Conference to be held: Saturday, November 11, 2023

Workshop Overview - concept, background information

Global Health used to be dominated by infectious disease–its prevention and treatment.  Infectious diseases and epidemics have continued but more recently, chronic disease, non-communicable diseases, and mental health–their identification, treatment, and prevention have become increasingly important.

Different countries and regions are in different stages in this cycle–some still mostly focused on infections, others more concerned with non-communicable diseases and mental health.  These are not rigid divisions but shift with time and locations and conditions.

Workshop Objectives

The workshop will identify important skills and resources for communities increasingly trying to identify and treat non infectious diseases and conditions.

Abstract Focus

The pre-conference workshop will explore the current status, challenges and opportunities to improve community mental health and other non-communicable diseases and disorders.  What coalitions, collaborations and partnerships have been effective in supporting community efforts?  How can CHWs and health providers, program planners, policy-makers, advocates, donors, civil society, NGOs, universities, ministries of health, agriculture, education, and the military partner to improve health?  What  advocacy methods are the most useful for creating change effective policies to improve community health?

This participatory and interactive workshop will bring together a diverse group of national and international experts.  Abstracts that reflect this focus will be invited to exhibit as a poster presentation.

Abstract Composition Guidelines

Abstracts should illustrate efforts to achieve intentional collaboration in a CBPHC setting despite typical or unexpected challenges, or should be examples of effective practices.  They may be case studies or research focused.  The ideal abstract would include information that others at the conference could use in their own settings.

Abstracts should include:

The question or problem being addressed

Methods

Results and evaluation

Conclusion and discussion

Future considerations including scaling up and sustainability

A case study should still include a problem or question, how the problem was identified and approached, results and evaluation of that action, discussion, and future considerations, including scaling up and sustainability.

The abstracts will be evaluated and selected based on cohesion with the workshop topic proper format, relevancy of the problem being addressed, reasonable methods, appropriate conclusions, discussion of significance, and future considerations.