–with launch of National Action Plan 2024-2030
–focus to be placed on suicide prevention and substance abuse

MENTAL health services are expected to be decentralised and expanded across the country over the next few years to improve access and efficiency.
This was highlighted during the launch of the country’s National Mental Health Action Plan and National Suicide Prevention Plan 2024-2030, which is expected to be a guiding policy document to aid in the achievement of the goals of making these services more accessible.

At the launch, which was held at the Ministry of Health’s Brickdam office on Tuesday, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony said the government has been creating the legislative architecture to facilitate changes in mental health care and suicide prevention.
He said one of the main things that they have looked at in the development of this action plan is the decentralisation of mental health services across the country.

“Some of the things that we have been working on in the ministry is how do we decentralise mental health care. A lot of mental health care was centralised at the GPHC, and so one of the steps that we have taken is to take this out to other regional hospitals, so now people can access mental health services in regions,” he said.

Further, a new area which will receive more attention is substance abuse, Dr. Anthony said, noting: “You will see in this new action plan an area that we had not paid a lot of attention to, and that is the area of substance abuse. We felt that this is something that we need to pay more attention to.”

The Health Minister indicated that while the ministry currently funds prominent non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that help people with substance abuse issues, they are also looking to partner with other organisations in this regard, as this is something that is of utmost importance.
While he mentioned that work will be done to facilitate the decentralisation of mental health services, he added that they will also work on deinstitutionalising patients.

Dr. Anthony related that the modern way of treating people is to not keep them in the hospital when they experience acute episodes, but to have them treated and return home.
As such, this action plan will aid in this transition, and further address the issue where families refuse to accept those persons at home who have been treated at these facilities.
In this regard, he indicated that a lot of work has to be done to get people to think differently, therefore, public education will be pursued.

PRAGMATIC STEPS
“All of this we have to put in motion, and so over the next couple of years, you will see a lot of changes. So, what we have in the action plan, both in terms of what we want to do with mental health patients and potentially how we prevent suicide, I think all the steps are very pragmatic; they are very practical things that we want to do,” Dr. Anthony said.

Director of the Mental Health Unit at the Ministry of Health Dr. Timothy Morgan, while giving an overview of the action plan, said that this will foster the move of mental health services into communities.
Dr. Morgan said: “We are mostly looking at the mental health strategy in terms of addressing mental health issues in a more holistic way; in a more humanistic way, and we are protecting those persons’ human rights and ensuring their dignity.”

Further, he said that this plan will address the issue of the suicide rate in Guyana, and will also pay close attention to suicide attempts and work along with other ministries and collaborative partners like NGOs to reach the communities, and ensure issues are addressed proactively and not reactively.

“We are looking at this from a more holistic approach, where there is a whole government and a whole society approach in tackling mental health issues in Guyana,” he added.

One of the collaborative partners that aided in the drafting of the action plan was the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), which was represented at the launch by Assistant Director Dr. Rhonda Sealey-Thomas.
She said that PAHO is pleased with the work that Guyana has done over the past years to prioritise mental health and strengthen mental health legislation.

Additionally, Dr. Sealy-Thomas applauded the government for the progress that the country has made in addressing the mental health challenges of the population through the implementation of several actions.