Prepared by the APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health Executive – September 2022
The Digital Hub is a collaborative, international network of government health agencies, academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and businesses that delivers:
Capacity-building conferences
APEC Digital Hub Round Table Meeting on Data Standardization
Hosted by the National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH), Department of Health, the APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health Round Table Meeting on Data Collection and Standardization brought together government, academic, and private sectors representatives from eleven member economies to learn and share best practices on mental health data collection and standardization.
APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health ‘Next Steps’ Round Table
Co-hosted by the IMH Singapore and the APEC Digtial Hub Executive team, and made possible through the support of the Public Health Agency of Canada, the ‘Next Steps’ Round Table provided the opportunity to review progress under the APEC Roadmap to Promote Mental Wellness in a Healthy Asia Pacific (2014-2020) (the Roadmap) and generated a report of recommendations and preliminary pilot program reviews submitted to APEC Ministers during Senior Official’s Meetings (SOM3) in Chile in August 2019.
Others:
Policy Briefs and Reports
2021-2030 Roadmap to Promote Mental Wellness in a Healthy Asia Pacific
Developed by the APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health in collaboration with APEC member economies, the 2021-2030 Roadmap presents APEC’s strategic approach to supporting mental wellness in a post-COVID Asia Pacific from 2021 to 2030 through project implementation, strategic partnerships, and inclusive growth.
A New Horizon for Occupational Health: APEC White Paper on Workplace Mental Health and Safety
The APEC White Paper on Workplace Mental Health and Safety provides a framework for workplace action to support the mental health and wellness of employees. The White Paper explains the role of mental health in the workplace and for economic prosperity, highlights best practices and model programs from across the APEC region, and delivers a call to action for policy makers, employers and individuals with regards to supporting workplace mental health and safety.
The global and regional mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be far-reaching and long-lasting. Workplaces must play a central role in supporting employee mental health both during and after the pandemic.
Others:
Dr. Jill Murphy, Dr. Raymond Lam, and Dr. Andrew Greenshaw of the Digital Hub Executive (UBC and University of Alberta) conducted a values and preferences survey to inform the WHO guidelines on mental health at work and published in the guidelines’ Web Annex. Evidence Profiles and Supporting Evidence.
Multi-stakeholder collaborations
The APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health and the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) collaborated to develop a joint collaborative framework addressing gaps in the integration of mental health into primary care and identifies enablers and current best practices from several APEC economies. The framework also highlights the potential of digital technology to benefit primary mental health care for populations in the APEC region.
Research on Equity in Mental health in the Asia Pacific – Digital (REMAP-D).
REMAP-Digital is a network of UBC researchers collaborating on equity-oriented global mental health research focused on the Asia Pacific region. The cluster brings together interdisciplinary experts and stakeholders at UBC, in Canada, and internationally to advance community-engaged research, innovative approaches to knowledge exchange, and best practices for equitable mental health, especially through digital technology.
Digital demonstration projects
Building on a decade of collaboration between partners at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia/ APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health (Canada), the Institute of Population Health and Development-PHAD (Vietnam), the University of Melbourne (Australia) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), the VMood study seeks to improve access to depression care in Vietnamese communities using digital technology.
Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) through the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD), the EMBED program adapts and develop technologies such as mobile apps, online training programs, electronic medical records, and internet, telephone and WeChat interventions to promote measurement-based care (MBC) for depression in community mental health centres across Shanghai.
The TEAM-CAP project The overall goal is to conduct knowledge synthesis and mobilization to support planning and implementation of digital mental health initiatives with an emphasis on access by high-risk populations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic across the APEC region.
Who are our partners?
The Digital Hub consists of its Host Institution, a partnership between the University of British Columbia (UBC), University of Alberta (UA), and the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) non-profit organization and is led by an Executive Team and international Steering Committee of representatives from our partner organizations. The Digital Hub partners with government, non-profit, academic, and private-sector organizations across 14 APEC member economies:
- Australia – University of Melbourne;
- Canada – Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), Mood Disorders Society of Canada (MDSC), Canadian Mental Health Association, BC (CMHA BC); Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii); IBM Canada (through the UA‐based IBM Centre for Advanced Study)
- Chile – Ministry of Health
- China – Peking University APEC Health Sciences Academy;
- Japan – Japan Organization of Occupational Health and Safety (JOHAS); National Centre of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP);
- Korea – National Centre for Mental Health; Seoul National University;
- Malaysia – Department of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Violence Injury Prevention and the Mental Health Unit, Ministry of Health;
- Mexico – Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry;
- Papua New Guinea – Directorate of Health and Social Change;
- The Philippines – Ministry of Health; National Centre for Mental Health;
- Singapore – Ministry of Health; Institute for Mental Health (IMH);
- Viet Nam – Department of Social Protection, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs; Institute of Population, Health and Development (PHAD); Research and Training Center for Community Development (RTCCD);
- Private sector – Janssen-Asia; Upjohn, a Pfizer Division;
- International non-profit/non-governmental and academic partners – Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at the World Health Organization (WHO); Pan American Health Organization (PAHO); World Association of Family Doctors (WONCA); Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD); Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU); West Coast Global Mental Health Consortium; eMental Health International Collaborative (eMHIC).
An International Lived Experience Advisory Panel (I-LEAP) informs and guides the Digital Hub’s projects, knowledge exchange and mobilization initiatives, and mental health care research and policy priorities and is comprised of members from across the Asia Pacific who have have lived and/or living experience of mental illness and represent mental health service users, their families/caregivers, and advocates.
The Digital Hub has lean administration
Funding Requirements: Annual Budget
Sustained core funding will support the Digital Hub to:
- Disseminate guidelines and best practices across the region
- Continue ongoing initiatives and build upon existing partnerships
- Scale up model programs and evidence-based practices
- Remain responsive to emerging priorities and challenges
- Meet the goals and objectives of the 2021-2030 Roadmap to Promote Mental Wellness in a Healthy Asia Pacific
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Jill Murphy
Executive Director, APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health
Email: jill.murphy[at] ubc.ca
Dr. Raymond Lam
Executive Chair, APEC Digital Hub for Mental Health
Email: r.lam[at] ubc.ca