The Trends in Depressive Disorders in Malawi from 1990 tO 2010

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Public Health Interventions on mental health service delivery in Malawi There have been a strong advocacy by the mental health practitioners to strengthen the elements of public health such as public health intelligence, interventions and infrastructure in addressing mental health services during international conferences (11). This has led to the Ministry of Health in Malawi to plan for the interventions dealing with the disease prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of the patients once they have recovered from any condition (4). Although the ministry has no specific mental health strategy and policy, guidelines exist within the Malawian legal framework which have directed major reforms in the health sector since 1964 (7). Nevertheless, the inclusion of mental health services as a priority area in the current health strategic plan indicates the commitment by the ministry to reduce the burden of depressive disorders in Malawi. Prevention and Control of Depressive Disorders It is essential to recognise the key determinants of depressive disorders in order to develop an effective prevention plan (17). In the case of Malawi, interventions should be aimed at mitigating the impact of low levels of education, poverty, unemployment, gender based violence and poor access to mental health services. In addition, the health system should strengthen improvements in the control of medical conditions such as HIV and malaria which have been associated with an increased cases of depressive disorders. Malawi government must continue with the scaling up of the provision of free antiretroviral drugs (ARVS) to the public and improve quality of care for patients with HIV infection. This will stop the progression of simple conditions to severe cases... ... middle of paper ... ...lth : theory and practice / edited by Stephen Gillam, Jan Yates, Padmanabhan Badrinath: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012. 2nd ed.; 2012. 19. Richter D, Berger K. [Are mental disorders increasing? Update of a systematic review on repeated cross-sectional studies]. Psychiatrische Praxis. 2013;40(4):176-82. 20. WHO. Strengthening Health Systems to Improve Health Outcomes : WHO's Framework For Action. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO Document Production Services; 2007. 44 p. 21. Kauye F, Jenkins R, Rahman A. Training primary health care workers in mental health and its impact on diagnoses of common mental disorders in primary care of a developing country, Malawi: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. Psychological Medicine. 2014;44(3):657-66. 22. Winslow CEA. The cost of sickness and the price of health. BULLETIN OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. 2006;84(2):153-8.

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