Santo Domingo, DN- On the eve of World Mental Health Day, the organizations that make up the Alliance for the Right to Health showed concern about the weak attention to mental well-being in the country.
During a press conference, the entity warned about the need for the government to prioritize attention to mental healthand insisted on creating comprehensive conditions in the general well-being.
Psychologists Wendy Alba and Jairo Mercedes spoke on behalf of the Alliance and explained that mental health is determined by a complex interaction of stress factors and individual, social and structural vulnerabilities, so exposure to economic, geopolitical and Unfavorable environmental conditions, such as poverty, violence, inequality, and environmental degradation, also increase the risk of mental health conditions.
According to Jairo Mercedes, in a recent world report on the mental health situation entitled: Transforming Mental Health for All, the World Health Organization (WHO), estimates that “both anxiety and depressive disorders have increased by more than 25 % during the first year of the pandemic. At the same time, he makes clear, the treatment gap for mental health conditions has widened.”
The prominent expert in human behavior pointed out that, despite the magnitude of the problem, investment in mental health in the Dominican Republic, at its highest point, has reached only 0.73% of total health spending, without compensating or in the to a lesser extent the lower limit of the costs associated with the lack of attention to mental health disorders.
Another concern that stands out is that although the country has a legal framework, a National Mental Health Care Plan prepared by the Ministry of Public Health and other public policy instruments that support sectoral interventions, the level of implementation of the measures established in the policies, norms and protocols is unknown since the country, to date, does not have data on the monitoring of execution nor does it have formal statistics that allow for national estimates for decision-making.
Meanwhile, the psychologist Wendy Alba, considered that it is time to act to promote programs for the promotion and prevention of mental health, which requires coordinated measures to be adopted with different sectors, including the responsible involvement of areas such as education, work, justice, transportation, environment, housing and social protection, all from a multisectoral coordination.
Alba also stressed that ADESA, as a space that brings together more than 57 organizations nationwide, makes an urgent call to the Dominican Government to express its commitment to improving mental health through the timely investment of economic and human resources that allow a national response to the issue to be accelerated, and thus promote a national articulation based on strengthening the leadership of all sectors and that this response focuses on the communities, guaranteeing promotion, prevention and timely attention to the population.
“Without investment in mental health we will not be able to transform it, without transforming mental health and guaranteeing well-being as a fundamental human right, we will condemn the entire society to chaos and despair.” We join the world call of the WHO to “Make mental health and well-being for all, a global priority” concluded the also researcher.
In this sense, ADESA makes the following recommendations
Promote a single space for the articulation of a national response to mental health led by the Ministry of Public Health, the National Health Service, all ministries, mayors, civil society organizations and the private sector.
Incorporate mental health from primary care and the work of psychologists in mental health promotion and prevention.
The implementation and updating of the National Mental Health Plan with emphasis on the promotion and prevention of mental health in the community environment-from the territory.
Social Security coverage, including Family Health Insurance to expand the catalog of services for mental health.
