Ensuring Resilience of Adolescents and Children: Strengthening Child and Adolescent Mental Health through Psychosocial Interventions (Албания - Тендер #65077274)

The World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines is seeking an institutional contractual partner to provide technical support to the Strengthening Child and Adolescent Mental Health through Psychosocial Interventions. This assistance will be carried out through an Agreement for Performance of Work (APW) contract.

The global mental health situation can be described as widespread, undertreated, and under-resourced. Estimates from the World Mental Health Report 2022 indicated that in 2019, there is an estimated 970 million people with mental health condition (1 in 8 people), while in the Philippines, results from the national baseline survey conducted in 2021 showed comparable estimates with around 8.6 million adult Filipinos (1 in 7 Filipino adult) developed at least one mental disorder during their lifetime.

To sustain the gains of the WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health (SIMH) and deliver an equally substantial impact, focus will be given on improving access to comprehensive, integrated, and quality mental, psychosocial, sexual and reproductive health services for children and adolescents in collaboration with the Joint Programme on Accelerating the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy (JPARAP). Both programmes aim to increase access to integrated, comprehensive information and services that would allow informed decisions and promote adolescent mental, sexual and reproductive health.

Strengthening Child and Adolescent Mental Health through Psychosocial Interventions will support the adaptation and roll-out of tailored approaches and more intensive psychosocial interventions that will promote and protect the mental health of adolescents who are at increased risk of developing mental health conditions and engaging in risky behaviors. For this group of adolescents, targeted psychosocial interventions will be adopted which will consist of components such as problem-solving, conflict management, stress management, and psychosocial intervention. For adolescents who present with early signs and symptoms of mental health problems but still do not have a formal diagnosis of a mental health condition, indicated psychosocial interventions will be adopted to prevent the onset of mental health conditions.

The integration of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) aim to equip adolescents with information that will promote awareness and informed decision-making, as well as skills that can positively influence their behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and social interaction the combination of which can address risk factors at individual, family, and societal levels to promote positive mental health, prevent self-harm, and prevent risk behaviors and its outcome such as adolescent pregnancy.

Both initiatives will center on providing psychosocial interventions for adolescents at increased risk of developing mental health problems or engaging in risky behaviors due to exposure to factors such as situational adversities (poverty, violence, others) and health status (pregnancy, HIV, others).