Strengthening Efforts to Integrate Mental Health into Primary Health Care in Chile

Abstract

Mental health and addiction care have traditionally been conceived as specialized services. This long-standing perception has been changing globally as recognition grows that sound mental health, which includes being free from substance abuse and concurrent disorders, is a fundamental component of people's overall health and well-being. A more central role for primary health care has also emerged in large part because it provides an opportunity to improve people's mental health by offering comprehensive care from health promotion to early recognition, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. Integrating mental health into primary health care has many advantages for improving care and reaching better outcomes, such as reduction of stigma and discrimination, better access to integrated and continuing care, and improvement of social integration. Chile has been a country at the forefront of the process of integrating mental health into primary health care. Reciprocal collaboration and knowledge exchange have been critical to its change process. Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has been collaborating with Chile since 2003 to build capacity in primary health care from a system's approach. This article reviews the process and results of the collaboration between CAMH, through its Office of International Health, and different institutions in Chile aimed at strengthening mental health and addiction services in primary health care. Some key lessons learned and implications for the future are identified and discussed.