These ICRC guidelines outline the organization’s approach to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) during and after armed conflict and other situations
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of violence. They provide a framework for harmonizing MHPSS programmes within the organization, and an insight into its strategic processes and field practices.
This publication is not intended to serve as a training manual for specific MHPSS techniques. In sharing these guidelines with an external audience, the ICRC aims to raise awareness of its approach among professionals and other interested parties.
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New assessment guidelines for measuring the overall impact of mental health problems in Latin America have served as a catalyst for countries to re
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view their mental health policies. Latin American countries have taken various steps to address long-standing problems such as structural difficulties, scarce financial and human resources, and social, political, and cultural obstacles in the implementation of mental health policies and legislation. These policy developments, however, have had uneven results. Policies must reflect the desire, determination, and commitment of policy-makers to take mental health seriously and look after people’s mental health needs. This paper describes the development of mental health policies in Latin American countries, focusing on published data in peer-reviewed journals, and legislative change and its implementation. It presents a brief history of mental health policy developments, and analyzes the basis and practicalities of current practice.
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This article provides an overview of the current and projected climate change risks and impacts to mental health and provides recommendations for p
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riority actions to address the mental health consequences of climate change.
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Vreeman RC et al. Journal of the International AIDS Society 2017, 20(Suppl 3):21497 http://www.jiasociety.org/index.php/jias/article/view/21497 | http://dx.doi.org/10.7448/IAS.20.4.21497
Mental health issues are usually given very low priority in health service policies. Although this is changing, African countries are still confron
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ted with so many problems caused by communicable diseases and malnutrition that they have not woken up to the impact of mental disorders. Every country must formulate a mental health policy based on its own social and cultural realities. Such policies must take into account the scope of mental health problems, provide proven and affordable interventions, safeguard patients’ rights, and ensure equity.
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Mental health problems represent the greatest global burden of disease among children and adolescents. There is, however, lack
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of policy development and implementation for child and adolescent mental health (CAMH), particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where children and adolescents represent up to 50% of populations. South Africa, an upper-middle income country is often regarded as advanced in health and social policy-making and implementation in comparison to other LMICs. It is, however, not clear whether this is the case for CAMH.
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WHO-AIMS REPORT ON MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM IN NEPAL
A report of the assessment of the
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mental health system in Nepal using the World Health Organization - Assessment Instrument for
Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS).
Kathmandu, Nepal
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Objective: To review research on associations of trauma type with PTSD in the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys, a series
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of epidemiological surveys that obtained representative data on trauma-specific PTSD.
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This resource is the third in a series of online guides for promoting positive mental health across the lifespan. This resource provides
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health and social service providers (“practitioners”) with current evidence-based approaches in the application of mental health promotion concepts and principles for refugees. It is intended to support practitioners, caregivers and others in incorporating best practice approaches to mental health promotion initiatives or programs directed toward refugees.
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J Int Assoc Provid AIDS Care. 2017 ; 16(5): 499–505. doi:10.1177/2325957417709089.
The impact of maternal mental health problems on infants in high income countries has been identified mostly in terms
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of psychosocial and emotional development, thanks to the groundbreaking early work of Spitz (2) and of Bowlby (3), who studied the emotional needs of infants and mother-child attachment. Subsequently, a large body of literature, also from HICs, documented the effects of maternal mental health on the child's psychological development (4), intellectual competence(5), psychosocial functioning (6) and rate of psychiatric morbidity (7, 8).
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