In AL, a third of covid patients saw their mental health affected

Laura Poy Solano

Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday May 7, 2022, p. 6

It is estimated that in Latin America and the Caribbean a third of the people who suffered from covid-19 were diagnosed with a neurological or mental disorder. To this is added that in 2020 between 14.7 and 22 percent of health personnel presented symptoms of depression, warns the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Faced with the urgent need to meet a sustained increase in the demand for specialized services in the region, the agency created the High-Level Commission on Mental Health and Covid-19, which will address, among other issues, the need to address this line in vulnerable populations, integration into universal health coverage and its financing.

The commission will make recommendations for reduce the suffering and the impact generated on the mental health of the population of the Americas by the pandemic. It will focus on five key areas, including the promotion of this aspect as a priority.

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), about a billion people live with a mental disorder and 3 million die each year from harmful use of alcohol, while one commits suicide every 40 seconds.

The effects of the covid-19 pandemic in this area will be devastating and long-lasting, estimates the WHO/PAHO, which is why it called on states to invest more, since currently only 2 percent of public funds are provided to health in most member countries.

PAHO reported that the commission will prepare a report with key recommendations based on evidence to improve mental health in the Americas. The report is expected to end in the last quarter of this year, which will make it possible to know the priorities on the agenda.

He stressed that despite the efforts made during the pandemic, the low priority that has historically been given to this aspect, with insufficient and poorly trained funding and human resources, hampered the ability to respond adequately.