[Designing a mental health system for children and adolescents]

Mental Health Act indicates childhood and adolescence as the periods of life requiring a special prophylactic, therapeutic and rehabilitative care. Planning future organization of mental health care for children and adolescents can be based on patterns developed in countries of longer tradition, as well as on suggestions of international bodies interested in improving health care. Desirable status, however, will remain at the project stage if the reality is not taken into account. Assessment of the particular community can be done with epidemiological studies which require highly trained professionals and are costly. Thus, epidemiological data can be used rather for modification of well developed care systems. Early start of training in mental health problems of children, adolescents and their families in undergraduate training of physicians seems to be very important, taking into account that development of specialized services requires support and cooperation of other doctors, e.g. general practitioners, and forms a background for postgraduate training in child and adolescent psychiatry. Professional, or rather multiprofessional associations of child and adolescent mental health care givers aiming at improvement of care system have a very important role in lobbying for changes essential for realization of any design.