Education of mental health professionals should reflect the changes occurring at scientific, clinical and sociocultural levels, and thus it should be continuously updated. However, in many parts of the world, psychiatric education is still based on a knowledge formed in the last century, and the most recent knowledge on the structure and functioning of the brain, human behaviors and social relationships is missing.

Moreover, the mission of psychiatrists has evolved over time, from the diagnosis and management of full-blown mental disorders to the identification of a series of mental health problems which are associated with high levels of personal and societal burden. The involvement of experts by experience in policy, clinical and research activities is now acknowledged as a priority^{1, 2}, and the need for a clinical characterization of individual patients beyond diagnosis in order to personalize treatment is widely recognized^{3, 4}. These changes should be taken into account by current educational curricula, but this is not always the case.

The WPA Section on Education in Psychiatry is committed to improve training and education worldwide, with a special attention to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), since the future of psychiatry as a discipline strongly depends on the education of the new generations of professionals.

The Section is updating the type of educational materials available for mental health professionals, and is keen to disseminate them worldwide⁵. In the last triennium, it has contributed to several educational activities, including the development of informational packages for the general public to decrease misconceptions on people with mental disorders, the update of training curricula for undergraduate medical students, and the organization of educational workshops and meetings for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.

In the triennium 2020-2023, following the COVID-19 pandemic – which has represented an unprecedent traumatic event with a detrimental impact on education, training and practice worldwide – the Section has been particularly active in developing and producing new tools to improve education in mental health worldwide^6-8.

The Chair of the Section, in collaboration with the WPA Past-President, has promoted a survey targeting the WPA Zonal Representatives, to identify the educational needs and interests of professionals associated with the WPA⁹. The main finding has been that these professionals are mostly concerned with public mental health activities and with primary prevention of mental disorders. The main unmet need is the development, implementation and dissemination of educational activities in languages other than English, in order to broaden their accessibility.

Moreover, the Section has collected experiences on education and training from researchers and scholars working in different parts of the world, with a special focus on the quality of training in LMICs. These contributions have been collected in a special issue of the journal Asia-Pacific Psychiatry¹⁰. This issue also includes the views of early career psychiatrists on the difficulties and advantages of being trained in psychiatry in LMICs, the neglect of education on addiction psychiatry, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychiatric training and education, and the relevance of using digital resources and online platforms for facilitating and improving the dissemination of educational programs and activities worldwide.

Moreover, the Chair of the Section has worked closely with the WPA Past-President to highlight the importance of physical health in patients with severe mental disorders, by participating in the Working Group on Physical Activities and Comorbidities¹¹ and in several educational initiatives organized during WPA Congresses and other major conferences.

Based on these activities, together with Profs. N. Sartorius and A. Javed, the Chair of the Section is editing a new WPA educational book on Comorbidity between Mental and Physical Disorders: Identification, Management and Treatment, that will be published during 2024.

Along these lines, the Section has been involved in the preparation of the WPA Action Plan 2023-2026 by the current WPA President, and has actively contributed to the production of educational materials for the Healthy Lifestyles Hub, a dedicated webpage collecting videos and informative packages on nutrition and physical activity. The aim is to further contribute to the creation of a library of resources accessible to colleagues worldwide that can be downloaded for inspiration and application in daily psychiatric practice^12-14.

In March 2021, the Section organized a successful virtual Train the Trainers workshop, which was attended by around 130 participants, including psychiatrists, psychiatric trainees, and other mental health care professionals from 45 countries. The interactive structure of the workshop allowed participants to exchange educational and professional experiences, ask questions and receive advice from experts. Among the keynote speakers, Profs. A. Javed and N. Sartorius shared their experience on how to find innovative solutions for improving training and education in psychiatry, with a specific focus on leadership and communication skills. The success of this workshop confirmed that online interactive educational activities can represent a useful tool in order to reduce organizational and logistic costs.

The Section has been continuously reinforcing collaboration with international organizations committed to improve education and training in psychiatry, such as the Committee on Education of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) and the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). Moreover, the Chair of the Section has actively participated in meetings held at the European Parliament in Brussels, sharing ideas on educational opportunities in mental health, in collaboration with representatives from UEMS and the World Health Organization.

The number of members of the Section has been expanding regularly, with the recruitment of several early career psychiatrists and the involvement of colleagues from a vast range of countries. We look forward to further opportunities of interaction with all colleagues and other stakeholders interested in upgrading psychiatric education worldwide.

精神卫生专业人员的教育应反映科学、临床和社会文化层面发生的变化，因此应不断更新。然而，在世界许多地方，精神病学教育仍然基于上个世纪形成的知识，缺乏关于大脑结构和功能、人类行为和社会关系的最新知识。

此外，精神科医生的使命随着时间的推移而演变，从诊断和治疗全面的精神障碍到识别一系列与高水平的个人和社会负担相关的精神健康问题。具有政策、临床和研究活动经验的专家的参与现在被认为是优先事项^{1, 2} ，并且广泛认识到除了诊断之外还需要对个体患者进行临床特征分析，以便进行个性化治疗^{3, 4} 。当前的教育课程应考虑到这些变化，但情况并非总是如此。

WPA 精神病学教育部门致力于改善全球培训和教育，特别关注低收入和中等收入国家 (LMIC)，因为精神病学作为一门学科的未来在很大程度上取决于新一代的教育。专业人士。

该科正在更新可供精神卫生专业人员使用的教育材料类型，并热衷于在全世界传播这些材料⁵ 。在过去的三年里，它为多项教育活动做出了贡献，包括为公众开发信息包，以减少对精神障碍患者的误解，更新本科医学生的培训课程，以及组织教育讲习班和会议对于精神科医生和其他心理健康专业人员。

在 2020-2023 年三年期中，继 COVID-19 大流行（这是一场史无前例的创伤性事件，对全世界的教育、培训和实践产生不利影响）之后，该科特别积极开发和生产新工具，以改善心理教育。全球卫生^6-8 。

该科主席与 WPA 前任主席合作，推动了一项针对 WPA 区域代表的调查，以确定与 WPA 相关的专业人员的教育需求和兴趣⁹ 。主要发现是这些专业人员主要关注公共心理健康活动和精神障碍的初级预防。主要未满足的需求是用英语以外的语言开发、实施和传播教育活动，以扩大其可及性。

此外，该科还收集了世界各地研究人员和学者的教育和培训经验，特别关注中低收入国家的培训质量。这些贡献已收集在《亚太精神病学》杂志的特刊中¹⁰ 。本期还包括早期职业精神病学家对中低收入国家接受精神病学培训的困难和优势、对成瘾精神病学教育的忽视、COVID-19大流行对精神病学培训和教育的影响以及使用用于促进和改善全球教育计划和活动传播的数字资源和在线平台。

此外，该科主席与 WPA 前任主席密切合作，通过参加体育活动和合并症工作组¹¹以及 WPA 期间组织的多项教育活动，强调身体健康对严重精神障碍患者的重要性。代表大会和其他重大会议。

基于这些活动，与教授一起。该科主席 N. Sartorius 和 A. Javed 正在编辑一本新的 WPA 教育书籍，题为“精神和身体疾病的共病：识别、管理和治疗”，该书将于 2024 年出版。

为此，该科参与了现任 WPA 主席制定的 WPA 2023-2026 年行动计划，并积极为健康生活方式中心（一个收集视频和信息包的专门网页）制作教育材料做出了贡献关于营养和身体活动。其目的是进一步促进创建可供世界各地同事访问的资源库，这些资源可以下载以在日常精神病学实践中获得灵感和应用^12-14 。

2021 年 3 月，该科成功举办了一次虚拟培训师培训研讨会，约有 130 名参与者参加，其中包括来自 45 个国家的精神科医生、精神科学员和其他精神卫生保健专业人员。研讨会的互动结构使参与者能够交流教育和专业经验、提出问题并接受专家的建议。在主讲人中，教授。 A. Javed 和 N. Sartorius 分享了他们关于如何寻找创新解决方案来改善精神病学培训和教育的经验，特别关注领导力和沟通技巧。本次研讨会的成功证实，在线互动教育活动可以成为降低组织和后勤成本的有用工具。

该科不断加强与致力于改善精神病学教育和培训的国际组织的合作，例如欧洲精神病学协会教育委员会（EPA）和欧洲医学专家联盟（UEMS）。此外，该科主席还积极参加在布鲁塞尔欧洲议会举行的会议，与 UEMS 和世界卫生组织的代表合作，分享有关心理健康教育机会的想法。

该科的成员人数一直在定期扩大，招募了几位早期职业精神科医生并吸引了来自许多国家的同事的参与。我们期待与所有对提升全球精神病学教育感兴趣的同事和其他利益相关者有更多的互动机会。