Prevalence of disorders and approach to treatment

The National Health Watch

SINCE 1999, significant improvements were injected to the service provision both at primary and secondary level heath care.
The improvements include training of mental health professionals, promotion of good mental health and prevention of mental illnesses, and increased training of new psychiatrists in collaboration with other authorities.
During the period of 1999 to 2023, we progressed significantly with seven psychiatrists and three psychiatry registrars coming on board.
In the Pacific region, we pioneered service delivery by using the high frequency radio to implement mental health programmes by providing training and consultative services to more than a thousand health service centres at various provinces and districts around Papua New Guinea.
This is a unique and invaluable progress that we must encourage and accolade these pioneering achievements in our society.
The paper The Study on “Neuropsychiatric manifestations of Typhoid fever” by Ambihaipahar 1996 highlighted that 105 out of 160 patients showed neuropsychiatric manifestations such as acute delirium 49 per cent cerebellar signs 17.5per cent.
Meningism six per cent, 11.5 per cent had other neurological signs such as temporary deafness or hemiplegic.
A study on “An update on Transcultural psychiatry in Papua New Guinea “Ambihaipahar 1994 described various transcultural issues such as New Guinea syndromes, suicide, arecolinism, culture and depression, cargo cult syndrome.
The above paper was an update on Transcultural psychiatry in Papua New Guinea briefly described and reviewed with a historical note on the cultural background, folk psychiatry, traditional practices, New Guinea syndromes, depression and culture. The final part of the paper compares the early morbidity studies (1959-1989).
The paper further concludes that PNG is a country with many different cultural and linguistic groups where concepts of diseases and healing of disease are intimately related to their beliefs and attitudes.
Transcultural psychiatry is still an important aspect in the practice of psychiatry in PNG.

  • Next edition – Prevalence of
    Disorders continued