A baseline study on mental disorders in Guiné-Bissau

Adults attending general health facilities in Guiné-Bissau were screened for the presence of mental disorder; minimum estimate of definite mentally ill cases was found to be 12%. The proportion correctly identified by general health workers was low: only one of every three patients with a mental disorder was recognised and of every 100 non-cases 12 patients were wrongly diagnosed by the health worker as suffering from psychiatric illness. On the basis of these results health workers are now being taught how to detect mental illness.