There has been a sharp year-on-year increase in the number of people suffering from serious mental illnesses, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) (Photo vnexpress.net)Hai Phong (VNA) - There has been a sharp year-on-yearincrease in the number of people suffering from serious mental illnesses,according to a senior official of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and SocialAffairs (MoLISA).
Nguyen Van Hoi, head of the ministry’s Social AssistanceDepartment, told a conference last week that an estimated nine millionVietnamese citizens, or roughly ten percent of the population, are sufferingfrom mental disorders of various degrees, down one million compared to 2016.
However, this year has witnessed a sharp rise of the number ofserious mental cases, with 300,000 or so citizens suffering severepsychological ailments against last year’s 200,000.
The conference on improving social work related to mental healthaimed to improve the quality of advocacy and awareness-raising activities inthe mass media.
Hoi said the most prevalent mental disorders includedschizophrenia, epilepsy, depression, autism, intellectual disability,neurological disability, brain damage, alcohol abuse and drug addiction.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s Decision No 1215 (issued July2011) approving a 10-year (2011-2020) project to improve community-based socialassistance and rehabilitation for mental patients, he said there were 50centres nationwide that provided care for mental patients.
Of these, 30 provided specialised care, while the other 20 focusedon general care.
Currently, 200,000 people with severe mental illness are entitledto monthly benefits, and 13,000 mental patients from economically disadvantagedbackgrounds who cannot take care of themselves and have no caretakers have beenadmitted into social welfare establishments.
These patients are provided with free health insurance cards, andgiven free vocational training classes if needed.
“Taking care of people with mental health problems is a difficulttask. Even those with bachelors or masters degrees in social work needed tolearn clinical tasks for at least two years beforethey can begin working at rehabilitation facilities,” Hoi said.
“Moreover, working at the rehab centres is a dangerous and onerousjob. There have been some extreme cases recently where caretakers were beaten,even killed by mental patients,” he added.
At the same time, the quality of social workers serving peoplewith mental health problems had improved steadily, Hoi asserted.
Dr Vu Cong Nguyen, deputy director of the Institute forPopulation, Health and Development, highlighted the “commonness” of depressionamong other disorders, calling it the “disease of the era.”
Nguyen said that while a nationally representative sample of thosesuffering from the disease has not been drawn, based on smaller cross-sectionalstudies in several localities throughout the country, it can be approximatedthat 8-15 percent of the population are suffering from depression in varyingdegrees.
Tran Ngoc Dien, Editor-in-Chief of the Labour and Societymagazine, said the press played a critical role in raising mental healthawareness.
“It is absolutely necessary that a reporter has a sympatheticheart and the right mindset, to use their work to help mental patients overcometheir problems and find happiness,” he said.
"The press can ensure that not just the public, decisionmaking officials also understand mental health issues better," he added
Dr Tran Ba Dung cautioned that reporters must be extra sensitiveso as to avoid inadvertently hurting people’s feelings.
He also warned against unethical practices like publishingunverified stories or publishing stories without the consent of those involved(the mental patient and their families), click-baiting or using sensational,misleading headlines that might generate negative public perception of mentaldisorders, which are heavily stigmatised already.-VNA
VNA
