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Is there a role for child psychiatry in Vietnam?
R S McKelvey1, D L Sang, H C Tu
1University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Australia.
Insights
Child psychiatry services in Vietnam are limited by healthcare system priorities and resource challenges. Future development requires research, training, and addressing cultural and economic barriers for child mental health.
Area of Science:
- Global Health
- Psychiatry
- Public Health Policy
Background:
- Vietnam's healthcare system prioritizes infectious diseases and malnutrition.
- Child mental health services are underdeveloped, with limited specialized care in urban centers.
- Rural areas rely on allied health personnel and community organizations for child mental health support.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the need for child psychiatric services in Vietnam.
- To review the current role and obstacles in child psychiatry development.
- To propose future directions for child mental health services in Vietnam.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of Vietnamese health systems, cultural practices, and mental health status.
- Discussions with leading Vietnamese health and mental health professionals.
- Analysis of cultural, economic, and manpower factors impacting child psychiatry.
Main Results:
- Child psychiatry's role is constrained by the healthcare focus and resource limitations.
- Specialized child psychiatric care is concentrated in urban areas.
- Treatment is primarily for severe conditions like epilepsy and mental retardation.
Conclusions:
- Child psychiatry can contribute through needs assessment and research on priority disorders.
- Training primary healthcare providers is crucial for improving child mental health outcomes.
- Addressing cultural, economic, and manpower challenges is essential for service expansion.
Objectives:
(i) To describe the need for child psychiatric services in Vietnam; (ii) to review child psychiatry's present role within the Vietnamese health care system; (iii) to identify cultural, economic and manpower obstacles to the development of child mental health services; and (iv) to recommend a course for the future development of child psychiatry in Vietnam.
Method:
The existing literature relevant to the Vietnamese health and mental health care systems, traditional practices and beliefs regarding health and mental health, and the current status of psychiatry and child psychiatry in Vietnam was reviewed. In addition, discussions regarding these topics, and the future of child psychiatry in Vietnam, were held with leading Vietnamese health and mental health professionals.
Results:
The current role of child psychiatry in Vietnam is limited by the health care system's focus on infectious diseases and malnutrition, and by cultural, economic and manpower factors. Treatment is reserved for the most severely afflicted, especially patients with epilepsy and mental retardation. Specialised care is available in only a few urban centres. In rural areas treatment is provided by allied health personnel, paraprofessionals and community organisations.
Conclusions:
While the present role of child psychiatry in Vietnam is limited, it can still make important contributions. These include: research defining the need for child and adolescent mental health services, identifying priority child psychiatric disorders and assessing the effectiveness of priority disease treatment; and training to enhance the skills of primary health care providers in the treatment of priority disorders.