“The efforts are insufficient in view of the needs and the accumulated delay”

2023-04-17 15:30:08

En France, it is estimated that 1.6 million children and adolescents suffer from mental disorders, but only 750,000 to 850,000 currently benefit from care provided in child psychiatry by specialized professionals (on an outpatient basis and in partial or complete hospitalization) .

However, while mental health is obviously a public health issue, it is first and foremost a fundamental right for every child. The International Convention on the Rights of the Child thus devotes an article to it underlining the right to “to enjoy the best possible state of health and to benefit from medical services” [article 24]recalling the obligation for the State to ensure “that no child be deprived of the right to have access to effective health services”.

The explosion of support and medical care needs is increasing dramatically. Between 2016 and 2021, the number of emergency room visits for mental disorders among children under 18, including suicide attempts, increased by 65%. At the same time, the number of child psychiatrists is decreasing and today there are only 700 child psychiatrists in the country, for 15,000 psychiatrists.

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This lack of means results in unacceptable territorial inequalities. The suicide rate among young people in Guyana is eight times higher than in mainland France and in 2021, eight departments still did not have any hospital beds in psychiatric care reserved for those under 18.

Emergency

Worse still, when support is possible, waiting times can go up to eighteen months, or even two years. The many alerts issued in recent years by child psychiatrists show the importance of strengthening care systems, for example with mobile teams, as well as health prevention levers in order to reduce the need for care in emergency situations.

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Today, particularly since the Covid-19 crisis, the mental health of children is the subject of increasing public policy attention, particularly from the ” mental health and psychiatry roadmap launched in 2018 but the efforts are insufficient in view of the needs and the accumulated delay.

The Minister of Health and Prevention has announced the forthcoming National Conference on Pediatrics and Child Health “before summer 2023”. By committing to take up the challenge of children’s mental health, this Conference presents a real opportunity to respond – beyond declarations – to the current emergency, and to better prepare for the future of children.

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