Situación de la atención primaria de salud mental en servicios públicos de El Alto, La Paz, Bolivia

Abstract

Only 0.05% of primary care visits were for MHBD. Among the barriers identified by doctors were: lack of a specialized reference center (60.0%), not enough time (40.0%), a shortage of specialized personnel (33.3%), the drug supply (20.0%), and undertrained staff (16.6%). The departmental and federal programs have limited human resources training, standards of care are nonexistent, and the information system does not collect data on MHBD. Community members amply identified the mental health problems and care needs that, to date, have not been met by the social services. Conclusiones: Training and development of primary care services staff must be expanded so as to provide the proper care for mental health disorders. Improvements must be made in the management of health care services and the reporting of behavioral and mental health disorders. Another recommendation is to incorporate community participation in the model approach to mental health within the framework of primary health care.