00:00 Director of Mental Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Hazel Othello,
00:03 outlines the objectives of the Paint the Town Green campaign, which include the
00:09 promotion of education, awareness and multi-sectoral support efforts and
00:13 normalizing the conversation around mental health, therefore breaking the
00:18 silence. Paint the Town Green is also about helping parents to be less
00:23 concerned about the stigma associated with seeking help for their children and
00:28 more concerned about ensuring the well-being of those children by
00:33 ensuring that they get the help that they need. Dr. Othello points to
00:38 statistics showing that depression and anxiety come at a global annual cost of
00:43 1 trillion US dollars. She says non-communicable diseases and mental
00:48 health illness can intertwine. She cites the 2019 to 2029 mental health policy in
00:54 this country, which seeks to decentralize mental health care services, reducing the
01:00 reliance on the St. Anne's Psychiatric Hospital. She adds that integrating
01:04 mental health into primary care for which training is ongoing is to push
01:09 equitable access. And we will ensure over time that the essential psychiatric
01:14 drugs that are frequently used are easily available at all primary care
01:20 centers. This will ensure that the average person, regardless of who you are,
01:25 who begins to develop a mental health disorder or who needs that mental health
01:30 assistance, can have the primary care system as their entry point into the
01:36 health care system. And if all their mental health needs are met at that
01:40 level, there will be no need for them to go on to a psychiatric clinic or be
01:44 admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Country representative at a Pan American
01:49 Health Organization, Dr. Erica Wheeler, says depressive and anxiety disorders
01:55 and alcohol and substance abuse impact just over 8% of this country's
02:00 population over the age of 15. Another worrying statistic is the rise in
02:06 suicides between the years 2000 and 2019 in the region of the Americas. Dr. Wheeler
02:13 says stigmatization and human rights violations against people suffering with
02:18 mental health still plague the region and access to quality service, including
02:23 in the health sector, is poor. Everyone has a right to the highest attainable
02:30 standard of mental health. This includes the right to be protected from mental
02:35 health risks, the right to available, accessible, acceptable and good quality
02:42 care, and the right to liberty, independence and inclusion, not exclusion,
02:48 in the communities in which they live. PAHO and the World Health Organization
02:53 are urging countries to comply with the different international conventions that
02:58 outline best practice for treating with mental health, including the Human Rights
03:03 Declaration. Dr. Wheeler says both entities continue to work with countries
03:07 in attaining these standards, and she expresses the view that people can lead
03:11 productive lives if they are treated in their communities instead of being
03:16 institutionalized. Furthermore, she states that institutionalization can
03:21 decrease independent function and infringe on human rights. So we in PAHO
03:27 and WHO have been supporting the Ministry of Health in their efforts to
03:32 strengthen community-based mental health services by providing mental health gap
03:37 training for primary care providers, supporting the access to mental health
03:43 services close to where they reside, and supporting the deinstitutionalization of
03:49 persons living with mental disorders. A strategy for improving mental health and
03:56 suicide prevention was approved in September by PAHO member states at a
04:00 council meeting in Washington DC. In addition to this, Dr. Wheeler says, there
04:06 is the PAHO and WHO framework to help chart the way forward. On another note,
04:11 the website Find Care TT, which was established during the pandemic, is one
04:16 resource people can use in this country to get guidance on accessing help for
04:21 many mental health problems at www.findcarett.com. Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
04:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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