A new
report has called for greater mental health provisions to be made for
Cambodia’s drug users, though it conceded that the human and financial
resources to implement its proposals will likely be lacking.
Published
last month in the International Journal of Drug Policy, the report is the
product of interviews with 169 drug users in Phnom Penh. Researchers found that
15.3 per cent had attempted suicide and 42 per cent suffered what the report
termed high levels of psychological distress.
Researchers
concluded that, in an ideal world, drug users would be screened for mental
health issues and referred to specialists for treatment.
However,
they went on to acknowledge that, as with other low- and middle-income
countries, Cambodia’s mental health services are already stretched beyond
capacity. A 2014 survey by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of
Health found Cambodia had only 41 registered psychiatrists.
The
compromise the researchers propose is for health providers working in existing
HIV and harm-reduction programs to be trained in mental health screening and
prevention.
David
Harding, who has spent more than a decade working with Cambodian drug users,
said yesterday that mental health provisions should be a feature of any program
tackling drug-related issues, although he was not aware of any such initiatives
in the Kingdom.
Representatives
of the Health Ministry and the National Authority for Combating Drugs were not
reachable.
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