My children need to study, not look after their sick mother! A total of 324 fami-lies were provided with improved and permanent individual hous-ing, 1,100 households benefited from micro-credit schemes, and 9,600 vulnerable refugees living in temporary shelters benefited from improved access to health, community initiatives and social activities. She has a great passion for mental health, women’s rights, and sustainable development in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The conflict resulted in the deaths of more than 140 civilians and thousands of combatants, widespread destruction to civilian infrastructure, and disruption to services. This branch is called Fight Against STigma (FAST).146 Partnering with the Armenia Ministry of Health and the World Association for Social Psychiatry, their goals included improving “diagnosis, treatment, support, and referral” for those with schizophrenia and/or depression.147 To achieve this, the organization provided in-person training for mental healthcare professionals, training materials, and a patient recording system to keep track of patients receiving treatment.148 They also provided education to decrease the public stigma associated with mental illness by providing materials such as posters, brochures, flipcharts, and comic books to raise awareness among the population.149, Although there are no output, outcome, or impact statistics available to demonstrate the effectiveness of the FAST intervention, Sanofi does report various goals that they hoped to achieve by 2019. Although Sanofi has not reported whether these goals were reached, some studies conducted in other countries on the effectiveness of public mental illness education programs have shown that educational interventions can succeed in decreasing the stigma against those with mental illness.151 For example, in Scotland, the Scottish campaign titled “See Me,” resulted in an 11% decrease in the public belief that protections should be enabled against those with mental illness and a 17% decrease in the belief that those with mental illnesses are dangerous.152 This indicates that similar results may have occurred in Armenia as a result of the FAST program, but without any numeric indicators, one cannot be certain that FAST had any lasting influence, positive or negative. With the tremor lasting almost a minute long with a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale, four cities and 350 villages in Armenia were destroyed.58 This catastrophic event killed about 100,000 people, with 530,000 people left homeless.59. Mental health services are interventions that help treat an individual's mental health condition, reduce symptoms, and improve behavioral functioning and its outcomes.154 Upon an individual coming to a mental health facility (psychiatric hospital, separate inpatient psychiatric unit of a general hospital, residential treatment center, day treatment, or outpatient), there will be a mental health intake. She will be taking a short break from her education to serve the people of Portugal and Texas for 18 months. Thus, because Armenia does not view mental healthcare as a priority, it is being used as a weapon, rather than an aid to assist a struggling population. The abuser and victim are also called together in court where they are encouraged to work out their differences in order to maintain a stable family unit.74 During the court hearing, the maximum punishment possible for the abuser is a six month prohibition on communication with the victim, which can be extended up to six additional months.75 According to anecdotal accounts, authorities often do nothing to protect the victims, prevent additional cases of abuse, or even direct individuals to services that would help them recover from abuse.76 Facing their problems alone and with the pressure to maintain dangerous familial situations could promote mental health issues that are going undiagnosed and untreated. Health Services for School-age Children and Adolescents in Armenia 4 Executive Summary The health and development of school-age children and adolescents in Armenia is cause both for optimism and concern. For those that currently live in institutionalized care centers, it will take convincing of medical professionals and select government leaders that more patients need community centered care. Armenia is one of many countries whose population faces mental health struggles to a relatively high degree. Sara is an international relations major with a minor in international development. Examples of treatments are counseling, medication, housing/care (such as in a mental hospital), etc. Those suffering from severe mental disorders may also face increased difficulty in performing their jobs effectively. A significant number of Armenians with mental health conditions are not aware of their condition, are not reporting it, or are not seeking treatment for it due to the negative stigma associated with psychiatric disorders in Armenia. A few of the most prominent consequences of the crisis include human right violations, lack of economic mobility, and harm to interpersonal relationships. How will I take care of her?” – Arpi, 25, refugee at the Kindergarten, “My nine-year-old daughter is very ill. She has a kidney infection; she was diagnosed with glomerulonephritis and needed treatment urgently. However, those centralized medical facilities are not receiving enough funds from the government to pay for all necessary medical treatments and personnel. In Armenia, 90 per cent of all deaths are attributed to NCDs. The Sanofi FAST program had good intentions, but there were some gaps in its structure. We are committed to providing you with up to date quality health products and tips. Domestic violence persists as a serious problem in Armenia. prevents the widespread implementation of successful mental healthcare, including outpatient clinics.164 Lastly, it will likely be expensive to implement deinstitutionalization with more medical professionals needing to be hired and facilities constructed. In addition, while the working group was still developing policy in 2013, the Armenian government adopted an action plan to examine alternative care methods and social services such as community based interventions for people with mental illnesses. The health and economic impact of air pollution in the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. . “Let’s also remember that displaced persons with life-threatening medical conditions are at greater risk of being infected by the COVID-19 virus. While these facilities still need to be organized, another barrier to deinstitutionalized mental health care includes the integration of patients into these facilities. The responsibilities of these home care professionals are also laid out in the policy document to ensure adherence to the integration of mentally ill individuals into community based living. These packs contain medicines essential to support critical primary health care such as over-the counter and prescription medicines (antibiotics, analgesics, anti-inflammatories, etc.) Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling.” Usually this diagnosis requires lifelong treatment, but the prognosis can be improved if treatments are administered.6, Anxiety disorder—While there are multiple kinds of anxiety disorders, the term can include “feelings of anxiety and panic [that] interfere with daily activities, are difficult to control, are out of proportion to the actual danger and can last a long time.” Anxiety disorders can often be improved with treatment.7, Depression—“A mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest . If there are not enough resources, no amount of restructuring will be able to adequately provide for the needs of all of Armenia’s mentally ill (although some improvements may be made in quality of care). Because of reduced public funding after the economic collapse of the 1990s, many employees were forced to take bribes and take advantage of their position of power within their workplace in order to make a living. A 2018 study found that having a lineage to a known direct Armenian genocide survivor led to higher overall PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores, with participants who had more than 4 genocide survivors in their ancestrial line having an average PHQ-9 score of 8.55, compared to individuals who had zero survivors having an average score of 5.75.56 In a study on Holocaust survivors, it was concluded that symptoms of depression in the second generation were a result of the circumstances of the parents’ survival. unnecessarily labelling them as chronic.115 This treatment persists as there is no national or regional human rights review body that regularly inspects patient human rights violations. Mental health services in Armenia are insufficient, and what is available is poorly integrated into the primary care system. War in the COVID-19 era: Mental health concerns in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. University of California, Los Angeles-Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, Los Angeles, CA, USA. As such, health contributes to economic growth. Armen ia inherited a Sema shko-style health system on independence from the So v iet U n ion in 199 1. There is no specific impact data for OSFA, and due to poor data collection on Armenian mental health services in general, it is difficult to determine what the impact of OSFA has been. Education in terms of mental health includes addressing false, commonly-held conceptions and replacing them with their factual counterparts.143 In Armenia, specifically, education could potentially show citizens the humanity of those with mental illness and that a mental health condition is not a punishment from God but a medical condition that can be treated.144 If those with mental illnesses were accepted within society, better resources and opportunities could be provided for them. This problem still persists as of today and is one of the main concerns of elected officials. Some even believe that mental illness is a punishment from God rather than a medical condition that can be resolved with treatment.77 These myths have encouraged maltreatment of and violence against children with mental disabilities.78 While educational programs have helped to curb the violence, their implementation has been experimental and limited.79 It is also common for men of Armenian descent to not seek treatment due to actual or perceived stigma attached to the Armenian community and culture.80 According to a therapist of Armenian descent, “The idea of paying someone for ‘advice’ runs counter to centuries of self-reliant individualism and may even be considered shameful or dishonorable.” He goes on to say that it would take an extreme situation, often including outside pressure, to encourage Armenian men to participate in psychotherapy.81, According to a study conducted by Doctors Without Borders, 63% of Armenians believe that those with mental illnesses are dangerous and 56% believe that they should be kept in hospitals.82 This could be due to the fact that mental illness is often viewed as untreatable in Armenia.83 If individuals are not seen as capable of recovering or having their condition improved to any degree, society will not provide opportunities to encourage those kinds of outcomes (as evident by the lack of mental healthcare facilities).84 Those individuals would not be seen as being as equally capable as those who do not live with mental health conditions. 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