About 15% of the population suffers from mental disorders.

In response to World Mental Health Day on October 10, the Department of Psychiatry (Hanoi Medical University), the National Institute of Mental Health, in collaboration with relevant units, organized a workshop to strengthen the mental health care system. The workshop aimed to raise knowledge, awareness and promote actions to care for and protect mental health.

According to the World Health Organization, "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity", "there is no health without mental health". Thus, mental health issues account for half of the definition of health, showing the very important role of mental health care.

Currently, the disease pattern is changing, in addition to infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases are the disease burden on all countries in the world, not just any country. Every year, deaths due to non-communicable diseases account for about 74% of total deaths worldwide.

Among non-communicable diseases, mental disorders are very common, on the rise and are the cause of many other health problems. In 2019, the World Health Organization estimated that 1 in 8 people were living with a mental disorder, of which anxiety and depression were the most common.

Notably, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a global mental health crisis, exacerbating acute and chronic stress and damaging the mental health of millions. In 2020, the number of people suffering from anxiety disorders and depression increased significantly, raising concerns about an increase in suicides.

While effective prevention and treatment services are available in facilities, many people with mental disorders do not have access to effective care, widening the treatment gap for mental health problems. Only about 29% of people with mental disorders and only one-third of people with depression receive formal mental health care.

In Vietnam, the prevalence of 10 common mental disorders is 14.9% of the population, which means about 15 million people. Depression and anxiety account for a high proportion, up to 5 to 6% of the population, the rest are other mental disorders such as bipolar disorder, mental disorders related to the use of alcohol, drugs and other addictive substances... In children, mental health problems are about 12%, equivalent to more than 3 million children in need of mental health care services.

Doctors recommend that anyone can suffer from mental disorders, at least at some stage, at some point in their life.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan affirmed: Mental health care is a problem of the whole society, not of any individual or any administrative level. Therefore, preventing and improving mental health is the responsibility of each individual, family, community, government and departments, sectors and unions from central to local levels, along with social organizations, through solutions such as raising awareness, implementing healthy behaviors in each individual, ensuring social security, eliminating hunger and reducing poverty, preventing and handling natural disasters, catastrophes... When encountering mental health problems, the main responsibility of health and society is to alleviate and eventually completely cure the patient.

Currently, the mental health care system in the country is being strengthened and gradually improved, with two central-level mental hospitals, Central Psychiatric Hospital 1 and Central Psychiatric Hospital 2, along with the National Institute of Mental Health.

At the provincial level, 43 provinces and cities currently have psychiatric hospitals, the rest are psychiatric departments in general hospitals and provincial centers for social disease prevention.

At the district level, many doctors are trained in mental health work. At the commune and ward levels, they focus more on managing the list of mentally ill patients, mainly providing psychiatric medication as prescribed by higher levels, and do not perform examination, diagnosis, or prescription for treatment of mental disorders.

However, mental health care still faces many difficulties and challenges: district level hardly provides inpatient psychiatric examination and treatment services; integration of mental health care into general health care, especially primary health care, is still limited; only psychiatric facilities provide services; most specialized hospitals such as pediatrics, obstetrics-pediatrics, and geriatrics do not have psychiatric departments; human resources for mental health care are lacking and unevenly distributed across regions of the country...

Mr. Le Minh Sang, a senior health expert of the World Bank in Vietnam, assessed that although Vietnam has more than 11,000 commune and ward health stations, only 49% of the stations can perform 80% of the technical expertise list; health stations only provide free medicine for patients with schizophrenia, epilepsy and depression; cannot perform other services such as screening, therapy, relapse prevention or rehabilitation... Therefore, Mr. Le Minh Sang recommended expanding service coverage, at the same time transforming the model towards integration and coordination; community-based day care... At the same time, developing and managing resources.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/khoang-15-so-dan-mac-roi-loan-tam-than-post776821.html