Two new Covid cases as WHO warns of mental health effects
THE Ministry of Health reported on Monday that two more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the Kingdom – a 27-year-old Frenchman staying in Siem Reap town and a 34year-old Indian woman staying at a hotel in Phnom Penh.
It said as of Monday, Covid19 patients across the country totalled 280. Of the number, 275 had recovered and five are being treated in hospital.
The report came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a survey highlighting a rising demand for mental health services due to the pandemic.
A WHO press release on the survey said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted or halted critical mental health services in 93 per cent of countries worldwide, while the demand for mental health is increasing.
“The survey of 130 countries provided the first global data showing the devastating impact of Covid-19 on access to mental health services and underscored the urgent need for increased funding.
“WHO has previously highlighted the chronic underfunding of mental health. Prior to the pandemic, countries were spending less than two per cent of their national health budgets on mental health, and struggling to meet their populations’ needs.
“The pandemic is increasing demand for mental health services. Bereavement, isolation, loss of income and fear are triggering mental health conditions or exacerbating existing ones. Many people may be facing increased levels of alcohol and drug use, insomnia, and anxiety.”
On October 10, WHO will host a “Big Event for Mental Health,” which it described in its press release as a “global online advocacy event ... that will bring together world leaders, celebrities and advocates to call for increased mental health investments in the wake of Covid-19”.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Sunday that while Covid-19 invades the world, people had changed the way they live, work and communicate with each other.
He mentioned the shift to wearing facemasks and maintaining physical distancing between each other.
“There is not yet a vaccine to treat Covid-19 and the pandemic is fast, even the US president contracted this disease.
“So, brothers and sisters, please take constant precautions by frequently washing your hands with soap and gel and wearing facemasks according to the actual situation and necessary needs. Please don’t underestimate and neglect
Covid-19 whatsoever,” he said.
Sean Sokphay, the executive director of Child Helpline, an organisation which offers mental health counselling, told The Post on Monday that mental health problems in Cambodia had been on the rise even before Covid-19 emerged.
He estimated that between 6,000 and 7,000 people had been calling for mental health counselling each year.
When the coronavirus spread, he said, people with mental health problems had doubled in number and counselling facilities experienced a shortage of staff.
“We are short of resources and funding. Firstly, institutions [dealing with mental health] have insufficient budgets to offer assistance to a wider group. And then we have Cambodians with no money to access mental health counselling.
“Every year, as I know, the budget in support of the mental health problem is small, almost zero. So, if the government wants our people to get better mental health services, it needs to invest [in the services],” he said.
Sokphay said that allowing mental health problems to rise is a bad sign for people and society. He pointed to the fact that suicides and fatal shootings were increasing in the Kingdom.