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, (MoLISA) (Photo vnexpress.net)
Hai Phong (VNA) – There has been a sharp year-on-year
increase in the number of people suffering from ,
according to a senior official of the , Invalids and Social
Affairs (MoLISA).
Nguyen Van Hoi, head of the ministry’s Social Assistance
Department, told a conference last week that an estimated nine million
, or roughly ten percent of the population, are suffering
from mental disorders of various degrees, down one million compared to 2016.
However, this year has witnessed a sharp rise of the number of
serious mental cases, with 300,000 or so citizens suffering severe
psychological ailments against last year’s 200,000.
The conference on improving social work related to mental health
aimed to improve the quality of advocacy and awareness-raising activities in
the mass media.
Hoi said the most prevalent mental disorders included
schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression, autism, intellectual disability,
neurological disability, brain damage, alcohol abuse and drug addiction.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s Decision No 1215 (issued July
2011) approving a 10-year (2011-2020) project to improve community-based social
assistance and rehabilitation for mental patients, he said there were 50
centres nationwide that provided care for mental patients.
Of these, 30 provided specialised care, while the other 20 focused
on general care.
Currently, 200,000 people with severe mental illness are entitled
to monthly benefits, and 13,000 mental patients from economically disadvantaged
backgrounds who cannot take care of themselves and have no caretakers have been
admitted into social welfare establishments.
These patients are provided with free health insurance cards, and
given free vocational training classes if needed.
“Taking care of people with mental health problems is a difficult
task. Even those with bachelors or masters degrees in social work needed to
learn clinical tasks for at least two years before
they can begin working at rehabilitation facilities,” Hoi said.
“Moreover, working at the rehab centres is a dangerous and onerous
job. 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 people
with mental health problems had improved steadily, Hoi asserted.
Dr Vu Cong Nguyen, deputy director of the Institute for
Population, Health and Development, highlighted the “commonness” of depression
among other disorders, calling it the “disease of the era.”
Nguyen said that while a nationally representative sample of those
suffering from the disease has not been drawn, based on smaller cross-sectional
studies in several localities throughout the country, it can be approximated
that 8-15 percent of the population are suffering from depression in varying
degrees.
Tran Ngoc Dien, Editor-in-Chief of the Labour and Society
magazine, said the press played a critical role in raising mental health
awareness.
“It is absolutely necessary that a reporter has a sympathetic
heart and the right mindset, to use their work to help mental patients overcome
their problems and find happiness,” he said.
“The press can ensure that not just the public, decision
making officials also understand mental health issues better,” he added
Dr Tran Ba Dung cautioned that reporters must be extra sensitive
so as to avoid inadvertently hurting people’s feelings.
He also warned against unethical practices like publishing
unverified 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 mental
disorders, which are heavily stigmatised already.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
