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The Department of Health (DOH) said the Philippine Council for Mental Health (PCMH) Strategic Framework 2024-2028 is a significant step to address mental health challenges.
It will serve as a guide for the development and implementation of mental health policies, programs, and services to improve mental health and well-being of Filipinos, it added.
“With the contributions of all partner agencies under the PCMH and the guidance of WHO, we can achieve all the strategies we are set to do as laid out in the new five-year strategic framework,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in a statement.
WHO Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rui Paulo De Jesus said the United Nations agency is “committed to implementing pro-equity strategies to ensure access to universal health care and develop resilient health systems in the country that respond to the mental health and well-being needs of every citizen.”
The DOH said it has implemented pro-equity strategies across different agencies and educational institutions, resulting in more accessible mental health care service to 78,449 private establishments, 54 hospitals, and 273 last-mile elementary schools.
In an interview with CNN Philippines on Monday, Dr. Carolina Uno-Rayco of the Philippine Mental Health Association said mental health conditions in the Philippines are increasing, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to the new normal.
“‘Yung anxiety napakataas (the number of reported cases of anxiety increased), so we deemed it necessary to give people a symbolism of hope…May pag-asa pa rin tayo (we still have hope) amidst all of these crises,” she added.