Study of mental health disorders in primary health care centers in Cordoba, argentina

Given that mental healthcare in Latin America is going through a special transformation, changing the hospital attention towards the community assistance (1), it is essential to know the profile of new potential users. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/ WHO) analyzed the situation regarding the attention given to mental health in the region of the Americas identifying that the progress in the provision of services in mental health is not enough (2). In most of the countries there are psychiatric hospitals considered as the basic structure of the mental health system. Chile, Brazil and Cuba are the exceptions. According the PAHO/WHO report, 1 out of 4 people suffers some kind of mental disorders at some stage in their life and, in the next 20 years, mental health disorders will be the second cause in the global burden of disease (2-4). Prevalence studies in the Primary Health Care centers show high levels of mental and behavioral disorders (5). Similar studies highlight the need of prioritizing mental health as an issue to resolve with a perspective of mental health depending on the social and economic importance of this problem (6-9). The detection and treatment of mental health and behavioral disorders in the Primary Health Care could also improve the access to care among many patients. Thus, from this perspective, it is indispensable to know the prevalence of mental and behavioral disorders since the health services must establish their priorities according to the local needs and conditions...