Ministers of health throughout the Americas have pledged to improve mental health care in their countries and a plan of action includes suicide prevention steps.
The plan of action on mental health was officially approved at the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) 53rd Directing Council meeting which started in Washington DC on September 29. The plan of action among other things calls for specific suicide-prevention interventions, including the improvement of information and surveillance systems. Suicide has been a major issue here and Guyana was recently classified in a PAHO/ World Health Organisation (WHO) report as the country with the highest rate of suicides for 2012.
According to a PAHO/WHO release, all 35 member states were represented. The action plan also includes the preparation of plans by member states to ensure effective services and prevention programmes for people with mental disorders and psychoactive substance-related disorders. Moreover, the release said, it is expected that member states will offer care and rehabilitation using a community- based model.
According to PAHO’s mental health figures, an estimated 19-24% of the population of the Americas suffers from a mental disorder. Depression is the lead malady and women are shown to suffer twice as much as men. More than that, 10-15% of women in industrialised countries and 20-40% of women in developing countries suffer from depression during pregnancy or in the weeks after giving birth. It was also shown that the suicide figure in the Americas is currently listed as 65,000 per year.
In addition, an estimated 73% of adults in the Americas who are in need of treatment for affective disorders, anxiety, or substance abuse do not receive it. The release also said, there is a growing problem of disorders of alcohol and psychoactive substances of which there is a major social impact and a lack of availability of the requisite treatment.
PAHO/WHO Senior Advisor on mental health, Jorge Rodriguez, in his address said, despite the current burden of mental health disorders and the insufficient response in some member states, other countries with positive and innovative approaches have had some very encouraging results and as such, the future in the Americas is optimistic.
“The plan of action,” Rodriguez was quoted as saying, “urges countries to evolve toward a comprehensive, decentralized, participatory, community-based model of mental health care linked to primary health care, to which everyone who needs access can have it, regardless of their condition, and where skilled personnel provide psychosocial treatment and rehabilitation services.”
The main lines under the plan of action to which countries have assented are expected to be implemented on a flexible basis over a six-year period and are as follows:
- Draft and implement plans and laws on mental health and mental health promotion, with active civil society participation.
- Promote universal and equitable access to comprehensive, community– based mental health services for the entire population.
- Advance efforts to move from a model based on psychiatric hospitals toward a community-based model that integrates mental health into primary health care and into general hospitals
- Strengthen human resources for mental health to boost the response capacity of mental health services.
- Engage in specific suicide-prevention interventions, including the improvement of information and surveillance systems.
- Strengthen partnerships between different sectors of government (eg education, labour, economy, and transportation), and with non-governmental organisations and academia.
- Improve information and research on mental health issues.
