WHO Collaborating Center for Training and Research in Mental Health

News
gaming disorder recognized as a mental illness by WHO
WHO has officially recognized gambling and gaming disorders as addiction in the new revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.
Read the press release here (in French )
WHO Collaborating Center re-designation
In October 2017 the WHO has approved the re-designation of the University of Geneva WHO Collaborating Center (CC) on mental health and aging. This great achievement was possible thanks to the close, productive and impactful collaboration between the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Geneva and the WHO.
During the past four years we have served as experts for the development of WHO guidelines in both mental health (link) and aging (link).
Our WHO CC has now a strong, international reputation particularly through its work in the field of dementia, substance abuse, and global mental health:
- We conducted a global survey, under the auspices of the WHO, to identify the research priorities to be addressed in the next 10 years with the greatest potential to reduce the global burden of dementia (link).
- We worked with the Swiss OFSP and significantly contributed to the design and development of the WHO global strategy on a public health response to dementia (PDF), which was adopted by the WHA in May 2017 (link).
- We also collaborated with WHO and several international experts to design, develop and pilot the Global Dementia Observatory, the WHO global surveillance platform used to monitor progress as the dementia plan is deployed globally (link).
- We wrote the final report of the six-years collaboration between WHO and the Gulbenkian Global Mental Health Platform. This report, entitled “Policy Options on Mental Health” (link), constitutes a comprehensive yet practical source of information and inspiration for national policy and decision-makers, and for all mental health stakeholders willing to contribute to the implementation of the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020 (link) at a national and international level. The report was launched in November 2017 and it has relevant implications for the Swiss Confederation and for the Geneva canton as well, because the 32 policy options we identified are relevant for and useful to strengthen the response of all sectors to the unmet needs of people with mental disorders also at a national and cantonal level.
A public health approach to mental health and aging is imperative in the SDGs era. We look forward to continuing our work, and to cementing and nurturing our collaboration with the Swiss OFSP, the WHO and its numerous international partners in both high and low-income countries, in order to contribute to the improvement of the world’s population’s health and wellbeing.
A. Development of mental health French speaking network for the WHO revision of ICD-10 (Dr Othman Sentissi)
B. Support the WHO global activities on public health aspects of dementia (Prof. Emiliano Albanese):
C. Support the WHO global activities in the area of substance abuse (Prof. Daniele Fabio Zullino and Dr. Sophia Achab)
This collaborating activity mainly consists in providing expert opinion and involvement in WHO projects and also logistical support to WHO; in the field of substance and non substance use disorders (gambling disorder and Internet related disorders including gaming disorder) and their public health implications. Perspectives are for example the field testing participation for ICD-11 criteria and clinical research projects.