GPHW2023: Addressing Health Care Workers’ Psychological Distress and Moral Injury as a Public Health Priority

Theme: 3 Themes

Date and Time: 03 – 05 April 2023 | 18:00 – 19:00 (CEST)

Event Description: Public health stakeholders in South Africa, including the South African government, academics and subject experts, people living with HIV (PLHIV), people with lived experience of mental health conditions, and representatives from international agencies met in September 2022 and identified a need to build awareness of moral injury as a concept among HCWs and management, as part of a strategy to tackle the psychological distress facing many HCWs in the workplace. The whole area of mental health is a new challenge that needs to be faced by Public Health Professionals and Associations, not only in South Africa, but globally as well. This webinar will seek to unpack the concept of moral injury, including how inadequate resources, policies that conflict with morals and values, cultural differences, and corruption in the health system drive the experience of moral injury in HCWs in South Africa. It will build on the report of the September 2022 round table meeting, in which panellists suggested that mental health champions, peer support structures (e.g., WhatsApp groups), campaigns, and employee assistance programs (EAPs) are potential mechanisms to build mental health resilience in HCWs. The target audience would be HCWs, management, professional associations, industry professionals and government officials. Three weeks after this Global Public Health Week, on 24-25 April, we will be hosting a major two-day in person Mental Health Conference in Johannesburg. This webinar would serve as an important opportunity to focus on an important area of mental health in the public sector in the lead-up to the conference.

Event Type: Seminar/Webinar

Event Format: Virtual

Language(s): English

Organiser(s):

How to Attend In-person: N/A

How to Attend Virtually: 

Registration: N/A