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Description
Children at risk or with mental health difficulties became a matter of concern for Romania in 2007 when the European Commission approved a call for action addressing people with mental health problems as one of the most vulnerable and untargeted group that needed support. Out of almost 4 million Romanian children, almost 1 million (20%) are at risk of developing a mental health disorder in a country where most of mental health services are available in hospital settings and focused on medication. There are less than 250 child psychiatrists at national level; general practitioners and paediatricians have no competence on screening and early identification of mental health disorders; there are no mental health prevention programs, school or community based services. Stigma associated with mental health touches the lives of the children, their families, the mental health professionals. This can only lead to poor use of services and increase the risks of co-morbidities.
The project’s activities focussed to improve quality of services and operational capacity in the area of child mental health, as well as other two major connected areas, education and child protection system. The project objectives is to develop mental health prevention services by strengthening primary health care providers (consistent capacity building activities will be delivered for professionals in primary health care, psychologists, GPs and paediatricians in order to improve their identification, early intervention and referral skills) and to improve access to health services in diagnostic and treatment for child mental health illnesses (for 1500 children at risk and another 1500 with a diagnosed mental health disorder). The project strategy is proposing a stepped intervention, from awareness raising, research, prevention and various types of interventions around the issue of child and adolescent mental health.