Kick-off Meeting of the #EU4Health Programme in Budapest
Budapest hosted a two-day kick-off meeting for the #EU4Health programme participants, focused on “Providing Quality and Timely Psychological First Aid (PFA) to the Population Affected by the Crisis in Ukraine.”
During the meeting, Anna Didenko, Head of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Unit of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS), presented key achievements in this area for 2022. Representatives from participating countries also shared their accomplishments from 2022 and outlined their plans for 2023, focusing on mental health and psychosocial support for those affected by the crisis in Ukraine.
The main objectives of the EU4Health programme are:
- providing quality and timely PFA to the affected population through the possibility of contacting the URCS information centre;
- conducting webinars and psychoeducational sessions (providing information on how to overcome stress in conditions of uncertainty);
- offering psychosocial support for the URCS staff and volunteers, including training sessions to raise awareness of the PFA and meetings to take care of the well-being of the entire team;
- cooperating with the public sector, communities, and representatives of organisations involved in emergency response.
The URCS implements these activities with the support of the European Commission. Other countries participating in the programme include Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, Iceland, and others.
