The 15th Annual Conference of the Bangladesh Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

The 15^th Annual conference and General Meeting of the Bangladesh Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (BACAMH) was held on 14-15 November, 2022 in Krishibid Institute of Dhaka, Bangladesh. This year’s theme was ‘Child and Adolescent Mental Health: prioritizing service needs’. A total of 275 participants registered in the 2 day program, including psychiatrists, psychologists, paediatricians, paediatric neurologists, social workers and child development workers. BACAMH is the leading organization on child mental health in Bangladesh and is a full member of IACAPAP.

The inaugural ceremony was chaired by Prof. Anwara Begum who is an eminent psychiatrist and writer of Bangladesh. The program was presided by president of BACAMH Prof. Nahid Mahjabin Morshed and renowned psychiatrists- Prof. Md. Golam Rabbani, Prof. Waziul Alam Chowdhury and Prof Bidhan Ronjon were special guests of the inaugural ceremony. Secretary General Dr. Niaz Mohammad Khan started the ceremony with his welcome address followed by an inspirational speech by Prof. MSI Mullick, the founder of BACAMH. President-elect Helal Uddin Ahmed closed the inauguration by his vote of thanks. 

On Day 1 morning session, two plenary lectures were delivered by Paediatrician  Prof. MOK Wahedi (Neurofeedback Treatment in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Clinical Experiences) and Public Health specialist Dr. Fariha Haseen (Adolescents and women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) visiting the tertiary level hospital of Bangladesh: An assessment of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms). In the afternoon session, there were two plenary lectures by Paediatric Neurologist Prof. Gopen Kundu ‘SSPE: An insight to its emerging trends ‘ and by Psychiatrist Prof. MMA Shalahuddin Qusar Biplob on ‘Prevent disorder, deposit wealth’. Keynote presentation on the conference theme was delivered by Prof. MSI Mullick, founder of the organization. A special oration is named after Late Prof. Syed Kamaluddin Ahmed, a distinguished and respected psychiatrist of Bangladesh and this year the oration was delivered by Prof. Brig. Gen. Azizul Islam. 

A stimulating scientific debate was held with the title ‘Social media: doing more harm than good in adolescents” and to our surprise, the team who spoke against, won. There was a cultural soiree entirely preformed by the residents of psychiatry and the event was full of singing, dancing, play and recitation.

Three interactive workshops were conducted: ‘Reframing unresourceful states with Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) for children and adolescents’ by Andalib Mahmud, ‘Non-violent resistance: Helping caregivers reduce child and adolescent problematic behaviour’ by Abdullah Al-Noman and ‘Dialectic Behaviour Therapy (DBT) for adolescent’s emotional dysregulation’ by Shelin Fatema Binte Shahid. 

IACAPAP Bulletin, issue 69