The Latin American Federation of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (FLAPIA): Thriving in the Face of the Pandemic

By Dr. Zuleika Morillo de Nieto (President FLAPIA) And Dr. Laura Viola (Secretary Genetal FlAPIA)

On June 13, 2020, we held the first discussion forum for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trainers in Latin American programs. This presented an opportunity to explore the similarities and differences of our various programs with the aim of creating collaboration channels and to tackle the new realities dictated by the pandemic and the subsequent health crisis. The coordinators of all the training schools of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean participated, as well as invited observers from IACAPAP including Professor Andres Martin (Vice President) and Professor Christina Schwenck (General Secretary).

Professor Martin highlighted the contribution of the knowledge generated by IACAPAP in a digital book. Local experiences with the pandemic were shared and this mobilized many colleagues from the continent for which we are very grateful. It is important to highlight that similar meetings of this nature were held previously with other FLAPIA directors, motivated by the federation’s firm interest in high-quality academic training of our future child and adolescent psychiatrists.

FLAPIA has continued to grow and today we currently have members from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Paraguay, in addition to Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Argentina. Our first virtual meeting was held on May 30, 2020, about 60 days after the pandemic struck the region, highlighted the migration to telehealth and allowed us to extend human ties between colleagues all in the spirit of solidarity generated by Covid 19. This quarter of virtual activities was overseen by Dr. Flora de la Barra.

Finally, our regional congress FLAPIA 2020, whose local organization is assigned to APPSIA, Paraguay, will take place virtually from September 14 -16, 2020.

We know that the regional social and economic difficulties and the vulnerability of our child protection systems pose a challenge to our professional community. However, many of us are not afraid of the word crisis, because we were born and thrived, both on a professional and personal level, facing one crisis after another.  This only increases our resilience and resolve to overcome together this experience of loss, fear and uncertainty, where we are all impacted in some way. We wish health and success for the next IACAPAP congress in December 2020, which is being actively shared in our region.

To learn more visit us at: www.flapia.es

Executive Committee, FLAPIA

IACAPAP Bulletin, Issue 59