Pan American Health Org. helps craft mental health stats
Puerto Rico Statistics Institute Executive Director Mario Marazzi (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
The Pan American Health Organization and the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute are working together to enable the island to produce comparable statistics about the mental health system based on World Health Organization Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems parameters, known as WHO-AIMS.
For the past three years, the PAHO has been conducting a series of approaches to the Puerto Rico government to evaluate its for mental health services delivery systems, following the standard methodology set forth by the international organization.
As a starting point this time, PAHO officials visited Puerto Rico last week and provided technical assistance to public and private entities, including providers and insurers, which are key to gathering information to complete the WHO-AIMS.
For the next phases of the project, the PAHO has requested that the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute head the data-gathering process, agency Executive Director Mario Marazzi-Santiago said.
“We are extremely honored by PAHO’s request. The Statistics Institute has an expert Puerto Rican team and has the legal authority to coordinate the island’s participation in this vital tool that will allow us to compare our mental health system with other countries,” Marazzi-Santiago said.
PAHO representatives include Jorge Rodríguez, regional mental health advisor and Raúl Castellanos, coordinator of the local PAHO office.
“This type of tool helps countries to catch up with the latest standards of delivery systems for mental health services,” Rodríguez said.
