[Symposium 45] Bridges of Hope: Uniting for Mental Health Care in East and Southeast Asia

[SY-45-04] Mental Health for All: Mental Health Support in Cambodia for twenty-eight years

*Tsutomu Aoki^1,2, Akiko Nosaki^1,3, Rieko Aoki^1,4, Toshiyuki Marutani^1,5, Kanae Moriuchi¹, Akira Kubota^1,5 (1.The Supporters for Mental Health (SUMH)(Japan), 2.Department of Psychiatry, Asahi General Hospital (Japan), 3.Graduate School of Nursing, School of Nursing, Chiba University(Japan), 4.Faculty of Nursing Department of Nursing, Josai International University(Japan), 5.Kinshicho Kubota Clinic(Japan))

Keywords:

Community Mental Health,Global Mental Health,Cambodia,Mental Health Support

It has been twenty-eight years since the Japanese non-profit organization, the Supporters for Mental Health (SUMH), began supporting community mental health activities in Cambodia. SUMH began field research in Siem Reap Province in 1996 and opened a local office in 2001. With the cooperation of Japanese volunteers, SUMH trained six psychosocial rehabilitation practitioners and opened and operated the only mental health rehabilitation center in Cambodia. It has provided day care and group therapy, mental health education for health care workers and other NPO staffs, outreach services, psychoeducation programs, and psychiatric outpatient clinics at two hospitals in rural areas, as well as deploying a vehicle to provide community mental health services. The following achievements have been made.- 62,589 people receiving psychiatric services- 2,364 home-visit support cases:- 5,021 mental health training participants in the community: - Psychiatric education for staffs of all health centers in Siem Reap Province- Numerous cases of release from custody in cages and chains in private homesThese activities were then considered effective in addressing global mental health challenges in the following ways Integrating mental health services into the community Improving access to effective psychotropic medications Developing multidisciplinary mental health professionals Provision of community mental health care and rehabilitation for the chronically mentally ill Strengthen the mental health care capacity of all health professionalsDuring this period, Cambodia has developed economically and has been upgraded from a low-income country to a low- to middle-income country. In terms of mental health activities, a new mental health plan through 2032 was announced in 2023 and psychiatric services are expected to improve.SUMH's experience shows that international mental health activities can achieve significant results when conducted from a multicultural perspective, respecting the culture and history of the partner country.