[Strategies for extending mental health services to developing countries. I. Description of the project]

Abstract

Mental Disorders constitute a severe Public Health problem in developing countries due to inadequate resources specially in terms of trained personnel; furthermore, Mental Health care is given out only in specialized Institutions where it has not been possible to provide coverage for more than a small part of the population. In this context the Collaborative Study on Strategies for the Extension of Mental Health Care has been planned, using as its guiding principle the recommendations of the WHO Expert Committee on Organization of Mental Health Services in Developing Countries (W.H.O. 1975). The objectives of the study are to determine the feasibility of introducing Mental Health Care directed toward defined priority conditions into general health services, to develop methods of selection for interventions in Mental Health Care as well as methods for task oriented training for health workers, to evaluate effectiveness of alternative low cost methods and to develop and evaluate ways of simulating community response to problems related to mental disorders. The areas selected are representative of the range of environments in developing countries in terms of overall socioeconomic and health status. In each area, actions will be directed towards making baseline observations and towards provision of care (planning, training, supervision and provision of referral channels). Specific interventions in the Cali area are described in regard to the training of the Health Center personnel in Mental Health, the provision of psychotropic drugs at the peri-urban level and provision of Mental Health Care by Primary Health Workers under the supervision of Health Center physicians and nurses.