Mental Health in Vietnam

Abstract

French colonization had a profound impact on the development of mental health services well into the twentieth century. The mental health system has been, and continues to be, dominated by institutional approaches to treatment of mental disorders. Mental hospitals operated by the national and provincial government health authorities have been the main locus of treatment and care. Social care for persons with severe and persistent mental disorders is limited, with national and provincial social affairs authorities providing minimal subsistence and little else in large social protection institutions. Over the past two decades, the Government of Vietnam has devoted increasing attention to the mental health of the population and has initiated major programs of reform of both the mental health system managed by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the social protection system managed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). While the mental hospitals and social protection centers continue to be essential and major elements of the two systems, there is a strong and sustained move in both sectors to community-based programs. It is also particularly important that there is continuing improvement in the extent and quality of collaboration between the two ministries. These developments are supported by appropriate national policy and development of the legal frameworks for modern mental health service provision and for community-based social support. This chapter outlines these developments and identifies some of the continuing challenges and opportunities for sustained mental health system improvement in Vietnam.