Specialized Master's in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Contexts (taught in French)

Specialized Master's in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Contexts

Note that this program is taught in French.

According to the UN (December 2022), ongoing and new conflicts, climate change, and social and economic instability will increase the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance to 339 million by 2023, which is one person out of 23 in the world.

In this context, international organizations and governments will have to equip themselves to respond to emergencies and the needs of these populations. The need for personnel capable of working and intervening in these conditions of great vulnerability is therefore constantly increasing.

However, several studies have highlighted the relative scarcity of specific training for professionals wishing to work in these contexts.

The Master's degree offers you targeted training, aimed at strengthening and developing new skills in humanitarian response and planning of psychosocial interventions in the perspective of MHPSS proposed by international authorities.

The Master is organised by the Department of Economics and Business of the University of Parma (UNIPR) in collaboration with the University Center of International Cooperation (UCIC), the European College of Parma Foundation and the University Abdou Moumouni (Niger).

Ideal students include:

• Mental health professionals
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Mental health technicians
• Educators and professionals in social assistance and support (doctors, social workers, etc.)
• Anyone working or considering working in humanitarian contexts or in local services dedicated to populations and individuals in situations of precariousness and vulnerability.

This course offers an interpretation of the multilateral humanitarian aid system based on the "field." It will address, among other things, the following topics:

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda.
• Agencies ending in O, F, and P, their roles, and mandates.
• The role of donor countries, the private sector, and major international funds (GFATM, Disaster Fund). Some important examples of the functioning of multilateral agencies: Cases under analysis.

Global Health

Global health is a concept that refers to everything that directly or indirectly influences the health of individuals and populations beyond national borders. In this context, the following points will be addressed:

• Financial aspects and the need for free healthcare systems in low-income countries and sustainability.
• Primary healthcare and secondary and tertiary levels, and the "One Health" concept since Alma Ata in 1978.
• Health emergencies, epidemiological surveillance.
• COVID-19 in Africa.
• The history of HIV/AIDS since the pandemic declaration in 1986.
• Malaria and tuberculosis (Global Fund).
• Ebola and other hemorrhagic diseases (Uganda 2000, Angola 2004, Sierra Leone 2014).
• Malnutrition in Africa and the concept of the double burden.
• Nutritional environment and food production.
• The Italian system (universities, centers of excellence, NGOs, and SSI).

Courses will begin in January 2024, in the evenings and/or on Saturdays, exclusively online, on the E-learning platform.