Caracas, November 1. - With the objective of strengthening the capacities of primary health care teams for early detection of mental, neurological and substance use disorders,the state mental health coordinators of the Ministry of the People's Power for Health received training in the use ofthe World Health Organization (WHO) mhGAP Intervention Guide.
The mhGAP-GI is a technical tool aimed at non-mental health professionals, such as general practitioners or nurses, with the aim of integrating a mental health component into non-specialized health care,explained Andrea Bruni, PAHO/WHO Regional Advisor on Mental Health for South America.
During the three days training, participants received general guidelines to detect priority mental health conditions: depression, psychosis, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, dementia, developmental and behavioral disorders, alcohol and drug use, suicide and self-harm.
"It is expected that non-mental health professionals can implement this package of interventions to detect cases of mental, neurological and substance use disorders, in order to provide adequate, evidence-based, pharmacological and psychosocial treatment," Bruni said.
