Damascus-Sana
World Mental Health Day is due on October 10 to remind countries and communities of their efforts to improve mental health and focus on preventing their disorders with a focus on suicide, which kills one person every 40 seconds globally - the second leading cause of death among young people after traffic accidents.
In Syria, mental health services have expanded in recent years within government and private hospitals and health centers, according to the deputy director of the mental health directorate at the Ministry of Health, Mahmoud Al-Ali.
In terms of numbers between Al-Ali that psychiatric services since the beginning of the year until the end of last August reached 98 thousand patients, while benefiting from the services of psychosocial support, psychological aid and treatment 76.6 thousand references, and carried out 1286 awareness activities in the accredited centers as well as the formation of teams to help the people in the liberated areas to provide Psychosocial support and first aid.
Despite the expansion of services, Al-Ali pointed out that the shortage of psychiatrists, nurses and specialized staff is still one of the main obstacles that prevent the provision of optimal treatment and care services. There are 70 registered psychiatrists, 18 of whom work in the Ministry of Health.
To bridge the gap, the Ministry of Health and WHO have launched a gap-building and capacity-building program since 2014.It focuses on training general practitioners, counselors and nursing staff to provide psychosocial support services through health centers, temporary accommodation and mobile clinics.
According to the Director of Mental Health, the capacity building program has so far trained 1,400 non-specialist doctors and 5,952 health staff in first aid and psychosocial support.
Mental health care services are provided as mentioned by a number of hospitals and centers affiliated to the Ministry of Health, Ibn Sina hospitals in Damascus countryside, Ibn Rushd in Damascus and Ibn Khaldun in Aleppo, in addition to the psychiatric division of the National Hospital in Lattakia and several health centers and early intervention centers in Tartous and Lattakia Higher Education, NGOs and Syrian Arab Red Crescent and Family Planning Association.
Al-Ali pointed out that wars and crises have a significant impact on mental health and social well-being, and the incidence of unrest during and after emergencies revealed that the incidence of depression during the crisis years was 12.2% in the global safe rates and cases of psychosis 2.25%, while globally from 1 to 2 And 2 to 3 percent in wars and crises.
WHO representative in Syria, Dr. Nehme Said, pointed out that the organization places suicide as one of the public health issues that are a priority in terms of action to prevent them and encourage countries to help them in developing or promoting comprehensive strategies, stressing the need to take any attempt by anyone seriously and to overcome Thoughts related to the shame of asking for help, the role of public information in this area.
Saeed said that the most important action taken by the Ministry of Health in Syria to include mental health services in the primary health care programs and the organization supports these efforts through a number of responses, including bridging the gap and mental health program for schools.
Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which each individual can realize his or her own potential and adapt to stress situations.It is defined by the WHO Constitution as a state of complete physical and psychological integrity and not merely the absence of disease and disability as defined as a state of social well-being.
Ines Svan