Informing Ministerial Resolutions to Address Violence Against Children and Community-Based Mental Health in East Africa

Implementation Science Collaborative (ISC) partners—including the Africa Academy for Public Health (AAPH), the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), and LVCT Health—and ISC Secretariat University Research Co. LLC (URC) attended the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community’s (ECSA-HC) Best Practices Forum (BPF) and subsequent Health Minister’s Conference (HMC) this past June in Arusha, Tanzania. Health ministers passed two resolutions of particular interest to the ISC as a result of partner presentations around the issues of ending child violence and advancing mental health and psychosocial support (Link to the resolutions). The BPF serves as a platform for health professionals, policymakers, and researchers to share emerging issues, evidence, and priorities, which shape a set of regional commitments, or resolutions, among member states.

Vivienne Mang’oli (pictured) of Kenya’s Ministry of Social Protection and Jane Thiomi of LVCT Health shared findings from qualitative research on children’s experience of violence in Kenya. The study examined policies, guidelines, strategies, and interventions from 2010 to 2019. Click here to learn more about data-to-action activities taken in Kenya after the country’s Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS).

Offering a broader perspective, in a separate plenary session, Dr. Andrew Silumesii of ECSA-HC, along with Binta Sako, World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, provided updates on national and regional preparatory efforts that are underway ahead of the first ever Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, scheduled for November 2024 in Bogota, Colombia. Dr. Silumesii called for collaboration to end child violence in the ECSA region and shared best practices and recommendations for action during his presentation.    

In the area of mental health and psychosocial support, Molly Naisanga, pictured, of IDI presented an ongoing global landscape of innovative community-based mental health interventions and policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through stakeholder network development, ECSA-HC, IDI, and ISC partners aim to increase access to information on CBMH approaches and related policy and strategy efforts. During the session, the audience was invited to contribute to the landscaping by sharing any CBMH resources and policy information. Stakeholders can still do so by completing the form here

Focusing on adolescent mental health, Dr. Mary Mwanyika-Sando, pictured, of AAPH highlighted the Being Initiative’s research in Tanzania and Ghana. She emphasized the need for more youth engagement in developing solutions at ECSA-HC’s BPF.

The BPF teed up these issues as priorities for the follow-on Directors Joint Consultative Committee Meeting and Health Ministers Conference (HMC), where two resolutions pertaining to ISC-related work were passed: ECSA/HMC73/R5 and ECSA/HMC73/R7. The first one urges ECSA-HC member states to “accelerate implementation of policies and strengthen surveillance systems for initiatives that address Violence Against Children (VAC) through deliberate allocation of funding and human resources.” The second calls on member states to “prioritize mental health and adopt a holistic approach in addressing risk factors and drivers of mental health.” Link to the resolutions.