Policy on mental health

Our theme this month concerns nascent psychiatric services in countries that are still developing their mental health provisions, but which face specific and diverse challenges. The most dramatic example of this is Iraq, where there continues to be far more conflict, corruption and instability than is ever reported in the Western media. Over 85% of non-governmental organisations have stopped operating in Iraq in recent years, and the future is uncertain for those that remain. Dr AlObaidi writes about the impact of the recent conflict on the mental health of children living in this traumatised country. There are concerns about the chances of creating a stable country in the future, when the current generation of children become adult, unless something is done to address their needs now. There are no formally trained child and adolescent psychiatrists, and it is not clear how the author’s plea for a comprehensive and culturally sensitive child and adolescent mental health service could be answered in the near future without financial and professional assistance from outside Iraq itself.