APEC Digital Hub welcomes Fall Economic Update, support for global partnerships and improving health outcomes

OTTAWA, Nov. 1, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Mood Disorders Society of Canada (MDSC), on behalf of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Digital Hub for Best and Innovative Practices in Mental Health, welcomes today's Fall Economic Update from the Government of Canada.

"Finance Minister Bill Morneau is right when he says that we need strong global partnerships," says MDSC national executive director Phil Upshall. "It's why the APEC Digital Hub is important to Canada's innovative economic future."

The Digital Hub will serve as an incubator of new ideas and practices, a platform for scale-up, and the focal point in APEC's inter-governmental work in mental health. Not only does this digital hub put Canada on the centre stage as a leader in innovation for mental health, it will, most importantly, help equip the one in five Canadians suffering from mental health problems with the treatment they need, as well as the 2.8 billion people from our partner APEC economies.

MDSC specifically congratulates the government on its $3.4 billion investment in social infrastructure to deliver on better health outcomes for seniors and improving health care in Indigenous communities in addition to addressing infrastructure needs in rural and northern communities. The Digital Hub, which will utilize the latest technology and research to address one of Canada's leading healthcare challenges, showcases the kind of global leadership and push to "think even bigger" that Minister Morneau outlined today.

About the APEC Digital Hub at UBC
APEC foreign and trade ministers unanimously endorsed the creation of an international "Digital Hub," to coordinate and promote advanced research from the world's leading universities and health institutes involved in the diagnosis, treatment and awareness of mental disorders in 2015. The University of British Columbia will host the Hub, working in collaboration with the University of Alberta and the Mood Disorders Society of Canada (MDSC).

SOURCE APEC Digital Hub

Phil Upshall, National executive director MDSC, APEC Digital Hub at UBC chief financial officer, 519-824-5565, [email protected], https://mdsc.ca/apec-digital-hub-leading-the-way