Yemen
The Regional Vice President, Professor Hassan Kassim Khan,has sent a year-end report to the Secretariat reviewing activities in 1998,and noting increased attention in the region to training mental healthprofessionals for work in community primary health care programs. He attendeda conference in Syria at the University of Damascus (20-25 May1998) which reviewed the work of psychologists in Arab countries. He laterhelped to organize a three-week training workshop held in October at theUniversity of Aden to develop the standardization of psychological testingwithin the local cultural context. He also participated in a two-dayworkshop (3-4 November 1998) on reproductive health organized by the Facultyof Medicine at the University of Aden in collaboration with the UnitedNations Population Fund (UNPF) representative in Yemen. This meetingwas attended by the UNPF Vice-Secretary General, Christina Throne, who was onan inspection visit to UN programs in Yemen. The workshop’spurpose was to assess the introduction of reproductive health and behavior inthe Medical School’s curriculum, and to coordinate the work of UN and NGOoffices. Dr. Hassan Kassim, who heads the Department of Behavioral Sciences,discussed his Department’s experience in providing sex education programsfor medical students.
A new mental health association has been founded by Dr. MaanKassem, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Aden University, in AdenCity. The organization is seeking funding to establish a”support-by-telephone” service.