Mental health access across the country

Spread across an archipelago of 83 islands, ensuring access to mental health services for over 300,000 inhabitants in Vanuatu isn’t an easy task. The Ministry of Health Mind Care Unit, the country’s only psychiatric facility, is staffed with just one psychiatrist and three psychiatric nurses, making it impossible to serve all island communities while also providing services at their regular clinic in the capital Port Vila.

In order to meet this challenge head-on, IsraAID and Mind Care Unit are training and mentoring volunteers (of which 60% are women) across the Pacific archipelago to ‘open the dialogue’ and help deliver Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) outreach and awareness to the community. To support this work, IsraAID has created a MHPSS Training Manual, the first of its kind to be officially endorsed by the Ministry of Health.

SPOTLIGHT: VANUATU

As a senior psychiatric nurse, Norah explains that there are not enough professionals to reach everyone, but the volunteers can be the first step for people receiving the support they need.

“The most important thing is to make the patients feel safe and heard. This is paramount to them recovering. Our clinic is the last part of the hierarchy of care and is where we provide medication and counseling based on an individual’s needs. But that individual will return back to their community and it is the community that plays the most important role in restoring the individual’s feeling of safety and belonging.”

Norah

Vanuatu

Senior Psychiatric Nurse

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