“We are honored to be part of this international event and to support ACCESS’s important work,” noted Saleem Zaru, UPA’s executive director. “Our programs have been recognized by other organizations, but this public platform gives us an opportunity to present these programs and share our experience. I am looking forward to these discussions and the exchange of ideas.”

The “Psycho-Social and Mental Health needs for Children in Regions of Turmoil” panel will kick off with a keynote lecture from Dr. Mustafa ElMasri, a renowned Palestinian psychiatrist and the director of UPA’s Healing Through Feeling program in the Gaza Strip. The program takes a comprehensive approach to mental health by not only educating kindergarten parents and teachers to recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in themselves and in their children, but also providing these caregivers with American Psychological Association (APA) children’s books and other tools that they can use to help their children through their trauma. UPA was proud to strike a licensing agreement with the APA to translate and distribute the books free of charge. The subsequent panel discussion will delve into the trauma-informed system of care approach that UPA is taking in Gaza and examine the approaches to children’s mental health taken in other MENA countries in an effort to glean best practices and lessons learned.

The second panel, entitled “Expanding Comprehensive Cleft Care to the MENA Region through the Embracing Life Program,” will feature a keynote lecture by Dr. John van Aalst, the program’s director and a preeminent physician, professor, and the surgical director of the Craniofacial Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Other panelists include Muath Tayem, the clinical research coordinator for the Embracing Life Program, Dr. Rushdi Amr, a dentist from the West Bank, and Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, the Chief Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon at the American University of Beirut (AUB) Hospital and the founder of AUB’s Conflict Medicine Program.

For over fifteen years, the ACCESS Conference on Health Issues in Arab Communities has served as a major platform for academic and public health leaders, health & mental health professionals, and policy makers to share best practices as well as strategic solutions that can improve health on a global scale. It is because of these unique and valuable experiences that the conference has had the participation and support of national and international organizations such as Centers of Disease Control, National Institutes of Health, United States Health and Human Services as well as the World Health Organization.

This year’s ACCESS Arab Health Summit will not only provide these convening opportunities but also engage new partners.

About United Palestinian Appeal

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