Almost 25,000 students have registered for a course on managing mental disorders at the primary level of medical care
It is planned that by the end of 2024 in Ukraine, 60% of specialists working in primary care medical institutions will be trained and will be able to help patients in cases of the most common mental disorders, such as depression or neurosis. And, most importantly, not only to diagnose them in time but also to treat them. And if more thorough therapy is necessary, they will redirect such patients to narrow specialists.
Such plans and forecasts are based on the scale of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) for family physicians and the significant demand for the online course “Managing common mental disorders at the primary level of medical care using the mhGAP manual”. The aim of this training is to simplify patients' access to psychological care within the framework of the All-Ukrainian mental health program initiated by the first lady of Ukraine.
Olena Zelenska notes: “The mission of the program is to maximize the availability of psychosocial support for every citizen who needs it. Therefore, it is extremely valuable how actively doctors have joined the program. After all, every family doctor who has more confidence in their own knowledge in the field of mental health is a timely saved psyche of their patients.”
Since the start of the course at the end of December 2022, 24,815 people have signed up for it. At the same time, 19,280 trainees have already passed the test and received certificates of completion of the online course. Of these, 7,412 are primary care doctors and 1,000 are doctors of specialized medical care institutions.
Also, among those who received the certificate: 8,821 representatives of other medical professionals, 467 heads of departments, 313 managers and deputy managers, as well as other trainees.
According to Minister of Health Viktor Liashko, there are plans to create a practice where a family doctor can take care not only of a person's physical health but also assess their mental state and provide the necessary psychological support. Therefore, a new package “Support and treatment of adults and children with mental disorders at the primary level of medical care” has already been introduced in the program of medical guarantees.
This package can be signed by primary care institutions where at least 20% of medical professionals have completed courses and received a certificate with the appropriate level of training. Currently, 20% of family doctors in Ukraine have successfully completed the mhGAP primary care training program, which allowed concluding agreements with the NHSU to provide this type of medical care to more than 55 medical institutions.
As for the geography of training of doctors under the mhGAP program, the largest number of applications for the course is from Dnipropetrovsk oblast – 2,487, the city of Kyiv – 1,906 (+ 1,242 from the Kyiv oblast), Lviv oblast – 1,897, Poltava oblast – 1,767 and Kharkiv oblast – 1,681 registered trainees of the course.
Leaders in the number of trainees who received certificates: Dnipropetrovsk oblast – 2,087, Poltava oblast – 1,540, Lviv oblast – 1,538, Khmelnytskyi oblast – 1,392, Kyiv – 1,284 (+ 936 from the Kyiv oblast) and Kharkiv oblast – 1,251 trainees.
It should be recalled that the online course “Managing common mental disorders at the primary level of medical care using the mhGAP manual”, which was launched to train medical workers by the Ministry of Health together with the World Health Organization (WHO), is available on the platform of the NHSU Academy.
The development took place within the framework of the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska to create an All-Ukrainian mental health program and with the financial support of the USAID Office for humanitarian assistance and with the support of the Swiss Confederation.
WHO, in cooperation with partners, continues to organize face-to-face trainings for primary care specialists under the mhGAP program.
It should be recalled that Viktor Liashko at a meeting of the interdepartmental coordination council of the All-Ukrainian mental health program presented a priority project of the Ministry, which is called “Mental Health at the primary level of medical care”.
For reference:
mhGAP is a flagship program developed and implemented in Ukraine by WHO with the support of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU). It aims to attract non-specialized mental health professionals (such as family doctors) to help people with mental disorders to increase patients' access to mental health services.
The mhGAP program has been implemented in Ukraine with the support of WHO since 2019. The course is designed for family doctors, pediatricians, internists, paramedics, nurses.