In the main part of the Philippines lies Region VIII or the Eastern Visayas area with a population of over 4 million individuals. When Tropical storm Haiyan ravaged the Philippines in 2013, this region was one of the hardest struck locations, as it faces the Pacific Ocean. The typhoon left in its wake lives lost, homes ruined and livelihoods harmed. Haiyan also had an impact on the mental health of those who endured the disaster.
“In the after-effects of that hurricane, there were many realizations and one of them was the requirement for us to fill the space on mental health services,” discussed Winnie Dorego, the local psychological health program supervisor of the Department of Health Regional Office VIII.
As in many areas in the Philippines, there’s a mix of metropolitan and rural neighborhoods in this area making it hard to supply fair health services, including for psychological health.
“Our region only has two hospitals that provide fundamental mental health services. Imagine the effort that it would require for them to seek expert assistance in those 2 health facilities,” included Dorego
Winnie Dorego (front right )leads the discussion with psychological health service users and their carers. WHO Western Pacific psychological health technical lead Martin Vandendyck and WHO Philippines mental health technical officer Dr Jasmine Vergara joins the discussion to supply technical assistance to the team. Photo: WHO
Right after Tropical Storm Haiyan, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Philippine Department of Health (DOH) started to present the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) to scale up psychological health and neurological services in the Philippines. The program offers evaluation, management and follow-up of individuals with psychological health conditions at the heart of the neighborhood, within the medical care health centre.City and local health physicians, nurses, and other health workers were trained with the mhGAP modules across the nation. Health centres with mhGAP-trained health employees were likewise assigned with medication by the DOH to deal with psychological health disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.
“As of 2018, 100% of our health centers have trained mhGAP personnel and it really helped them a lot because the patients are now being seen in their own communities,” stated Dorego.In Northern Samar, 1 of the 6 provinces in Eastern Visayas with a 1:690,000 psychiatrist to population ratio, they have actually seen positive changes in this community-based approach.
“We had the ability to access the medicines at the National Center for Mental Health at the national level. We were likewise able to have an active case finding for our mentally-challenged clients which started from 214 in 2014 and it increased to 384 in 2017,” discussed Dr Mary Ann Avalon, Northern Samar provincial health officer.
“The changes were life-altering for us health employees, the clients and their households,” shared Dr Myrna Trongcoso, municipal health officer in Catarman, Northern Samar. “At first, our barangay health workers were notified that they need to refer community members in need of assistance at the nearest health office. On our first month of program execution, I got already had five patients. The assistance offered had a positive outcome on these patients who have become productive, handy and practical to their households and neighborhoods they reside in.”
Catarman local health officer Dr Myrna Trongcoso(right)talks with her psychological health patient. Picture: WHO/J. Vergara With the Mental Health Act passed in 2018 and all set to be executed in 2019, community-based mental health services will be even more improved. The law mandates the facility of community-based psychological healthcare centers in the provinces, cities and cluster of towns in the Philippines based on the requirements of the population, to provide appropriate psychological healthcare services and improve the rights-based method to mental health care.”We see a great future for mhGAP for the area and
the entire Philippines, “stated Dorego.” We can genuinely state that we are supplying available and quality health service for all our citizens.”Right after Typhoon Haiyan, the World Health Organization (WHO )and Philippine Department
of Health(DOH )started to present the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP)to scale up mental health and neurological services in the Philippines. The programme supplies evaluation, management and follow-up of individuals with mental health conditions at the heart of the community, within the medical care health centre.
