20 March 2017 - Guyana, a developing country with a population of 750 000, is faced with a high suicide rate. This scourge gravely concerns the Government of Guyana, which views the psychological and emotional well-being of its people as vital to ensuring quality of life. There is much to be done to scale up the mental health services provided to its citizens, and the government has been working closely with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization to do so.
mhGAP, developed by WHO for low- and middle-income countries, aims to scale up services for people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders. In 2015, the Mental Health Unit of PAHO implemented the online course “Integration of mental health into primary care” based on the mhGAP Intervention Guide, using PAHO’s Virtual Campus for Public Health platform. Seven physicians from Guyana successfully completed the course.
I am better able to manage depression, using not only medication, but also psycho education.
Krystle Fraser, a family medicine doctor
One of them, Tamica Daniels Williamson, a family medicine resident attached to the Grove Health Center, said: “the course helped me make some changes in areas related to diagnosis and management of mental health problems.” She noted that previously she had found it difficult to diagnose depression in her patients, and had been referring them to the psychiatry clinic. As a direct result of participating in the programme, she can now recognize other mental health disorders more confidently.
Krystle Fraser, a family medicine doctor who participated in the training stated: “I am better able to manage depression, using not only medication, but also psycho education.” According to her, this includes identifying and understanding the stresses her patients are experiencing, and exploring their social support system.
In Guyana, between 2010–2012, there were 667 reported suicide attempts, resulting in an average of 200 deaths per year. The government has launched the National Mental Health Action Plan for 2015–2020 and a national suicide prevention plan. Implementation is under way and, together with other initiatives, such as a recent mhGAP Intervention Guide four-day training workshop facilitated by PAHO/WHO, a reduction in the suicide rate is anticipated