WHO has released a Ukrainian version of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide version 2.0 (mhGAP-IG 2.0) and its smartphone application for health care workers in Ukraine. These user-friendly decision-making tools are aimed at supporting health workers in their daily practice and ensuring access to quality care for the population. mhGAP-IG 2.0 helps doctors to timely identify and provide support to people experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, self-harm/suicide and substance use disorders.
The Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) was launched by WHO in 2008 to enable scale-up of services for mental, neurological and substance use conditions in non-specialized health care settings. mhGAP-IG 2.0 is a key tool of the programme that provides a structured algorithm for clinical decision-making, covering assessment, management and follow-up.
“In Ukraine, the programme provides an opportunity for integration of mental health into general health care provision, which brings us closer to achieving universal health coverage,” highlighted Dr Dan Chisholm, Programme Manager for Mental Health at the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
Ievhen Yatsura is a family doctor working in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk at Family Medicine Centre No. 1. He observed that more than 40% of his patients had symptoms associated with mental health conditions such as high blood pressure, headache or sleep disorders. “The mhGAP approach helps significantly in my day-to-day responsibilities,” said Ievhen.
“mhGAP includes a practice where I don't interrupt the patient while they tell me about everything that worries them. Then I use leading questions to understand which problem is the most important and try to deal with it in several ways. We explain what it is, how to deal with it, and try to engage the patient in some kind of activity,” he added.
mhGAP in Ukraine started in October 2018, when the first planning workshop was organized by WHO and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and a roadmap was developed by a group of national stakeholders. Primary health care was identified as the most relevant sector for mhGAP integration, which was informed by ongoing reform of the health care system.
In February 2019 WHO trained over 30 national mhGAP master trainers and supervisors, followed by embedding and testing of the primary mental health service model at facility level. The initial implementation efforts have demonstrated that primary health care workers can effectively identify common mental and substance use conditions and provide basic management and support to the population.
“We hope that the new mhGAP tools will facilitate continued capacity building, improve usability of the mhGAP package and increase health care workers’ confidence in the provision of mental health services to the population,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative and Head of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine.