This event took place in Lima, October 9, as part of World Mental Health Day observance, with the aim of highlighting the importance of making mental health care available to all people,regardless of their own special circumstances or where they live.
During the inauguration, Dr. María del Carmen Calle Dávila, General Director of Strategic Interventions in Public Health of the Ministry of Health,highlighted that they were working on the implementation of the community mental health model, which brings patients closer to care.So far there are thirty community health centers in ten regions of the country, which cover 20% of mental health patients. It is expected to reach many more with four centers that are about to start operating.
PAHO/WHO Representative in Perú, Dr. Raúl González Montero,noted there are some rights of people with mental disabilities that are being violated, for example, their right to work. He argued that, from an inclusion perspective, mental health should be where Perú is laying focus on, at the first level of care, and that there should be specialized teams making it unnecessary to move to higher levels.He also indicated that this is a big step towards mental health care reform: investing in the community care model is much less costly than investing in the hospitalization model.For his part, the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Juan Arroyo, acknowledged the progress made by some local governments in the implementation of the reform.
Together with experts from Spain, Chile and Peru, Dr. Andrea Bruni, PAHO/WHO Subregional Advisor on Mental Health for South America, participated as moderator of the round table "Successful experiences in the mental health services reform."
