|
Populations
of Member Countries of the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region
have suffered for ages from many communicable diseases. While some of these
have been successfully controlled, others continue as serious public health
problems. However, recently, it has become increasingly clear that
noncommunicable diseases, including mental and neurological disorders, are
important causes of suffering and death in the Region. An estimated 400
million people worldwide suffer from mental and neurological disorders or
from psychosocial problems such as those related to alcohol and drug abuse.
Our Region accounts for a substantial proportion of such people. Thus, the
Region faces the double burden of diseases - both communicable and
noncommunicable. Moreover, with the population increasing in number and age,
Member Countries will be burdened with an ever-growing number of patients
with mental and neurological disorders.
As
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland,
the Director-General of the World Health Organizatio
n says, "Many of them suffer silently, and beyond the suffering and
beyond the absence of care lie the frontiers of stigma, shame, exclusion and,
more often than we care to know, death".
While
stigma and discrimination continue to be the biggest obstacles facing
mentally ill people today, inexpensive drugs are not reaching many people
with mental and neurological illnesses. Although successful methods of
involving the family and the community to help in recovery and reduce
suffering and accompanying disabilities have been identified, these are yet
to be used extensively. Thus, many population groups still remain deprived of
the benefits of advancement in medical sciences. Dr Brundtland
has said, "By accident or design, we are all responsible for this
situation today."
The
World Health Organization recently developed a new global policy and strategy
for work in the area of mental health. Launched by the Director-General in Beijing in November
1999, the policy emphasizes three priority areas of work: (1) Advocacy to
raise the profile of mental health and fight discrimination; (2) Policy to
integrate mental health into the general health sector, and (3) Effective
interventions for treatment and prevention and their dissemination. The South-East
Asia Regional Office of the World Health Organization is committed to
promoting this policy.
Mental
health care, unlike many other areas of health, does not generally demand
costly technology. Rather, it requires the sensitive deployment of personnel
who have been properly trained in the use of relatively inexpensive drugs and
psychological support skills on an outpatient basis. What is needed, above
all, is for all concerned to work closely together to address the
multi-faceted challenges of mental health.
Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei
Regional Director
World Health Organization
Regional Office for South-East Asia
|
