Integrating mental health into primary health care in Iraq.

The Ministry of Health in Iraq is undertaking a systematic programme to integrate mental health into primary care in order to increase population access to mental health care. This paper reports the evaluation of the delivery of a ten day interactive training programme to 20% of primary care centres across Iraq. The multistage evaluation included a pre- and post-test questionnaire to assess knowledge, attitudes and practice in health workers drawn from 143 health centres, a course evaluation questionnaire and, in a random sample of 41 clinics, direct observation of health workers skills and exit interviews of patients, comparing health workers who had received the training programme with those from the same clinics who had not received the training.

Public perception of mental health in Iraq.

Background: People who suffer from mental illness, the professionals who treat them, and indeed the actual concept of mental illness are all stigmatised in public perception and often receive very negative publicity. This paper looks at Iraq, which has a population of 30 million who are mainly Moslem. Mental health services and professionals have historically been sparse in Iraq with 1 psychiatrist per 300,000 before 2003 falling to 1 per million until recently and 1 primary care centre (40 Healthcare Workers including 4 General Practitioners) to 35,000 population, compared with 1 GP per 1700 population in the UK.

The prevalence and correlates of DSM-IV disorders in the Iraq Mental Health Survey (IMHS).

Data on the prevalence and correlates of anxiety, mood, behavioral, and substance disorders are presented from a 2007-8 national survey of the Iraq population, the Iraq Mental Health Survey (IMHS). The IMHS was carried out by the Iraq Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Iraq Ministry of Planning and the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative. Interviews were administered to a probability sample of Iraqi household residents by trained lay interviewers.

Mental health services in Iraq: past, present and future.

Iraq is known to be the cradle of civilisation - a country with a rich history. Present-day Iraq occupies the greater part of the ancient land of Mesopotamia, the plain between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Some of the world's greatest ancient civilisations arose in this area, and Iraq possesses a huge number of historical monuments and archaeological sites.