Lao People’s Democratic Republic:
Report of a regional meeting of experts
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locality and providing services to fulfil a wider range of needs. To scale up services to improve access to mental health, it is important for different
groups of people to take action by giving rise to new services, increasing allocation of resources and a change in health-seeking behaviour.
The important interventions mentioned for care for mental and neurological disorders were public education; awareness raising; primary,
secondary and tertiary prevention; capacity-building; counselling and rehabilitation.
2 Plans to strengthen the primary health-care system: Dr Sisira Bandar
Sri Lanka has a well-developed PHC delivery system. The strategy to empower the PHC delivery system to deliver care for mental and
neurological disorders includes primary prevention focusing on promotion of mental well-being and prevention of mental and neurological disorders.
In terms of delivery of care, the strategy is increasing public awareness about mental and neurological disorders and taking a multidisciplinary
holistic approach to treat patients. All PHC-based staff receive training in the identification and treatment of the most common mental and
neurological disorders.
An ongoing project in Uva province being conducted in all the health facilities aims to assess utilization patterns of mental health services and
their cost in the province, and to identify the perspective of the recipient’s view on stigma associated with illness and use of alternative systems of
medicine. The study is ongoing and results will be available soon.