The “Strengthening health systems capacity in response to COVID-19 outbreak in Mongolia” project supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Health Organization (WHO) handed over crucial IT and medical furniture equipment to the Ministry of Health’s National Center for Mental Health to improve COVID-19 related mental health and psychological counselling. The equipment will be distributed to psychological counselling units in nine District Health Centers in Ulaanbaatar.
The handover ceremony took place at the National Center for Mental Health and was attended by Dr G. Gankhuyag, Director, Division of Non-communicable Diseases prevention and control, Ministry of Health, Dr V. Bayarmaa, Acting Director, National Center for Mental Health, Dr Ts. Undral, Director, Division of Public Health, Ulaanbaatar City Health Department, Mr. Thomas P. Crehan, Senior Development Advisor, USAID/Mongolia and Dr S. Bolormaa, Technical Officer for NCDs, WHO CO Mongolia.
The country's socio-economic difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictive measures and lockdowns, led to job losses and the economic downturn resulted in negative psychological effects, such as anxiety, depression, unexplained somatoform diseases, insomnia and increased alcohol consumption. The health and mental well-being of front-line workers, including doctors and medical staff, play an important role in maintaining the health of the entire population and increase the chances of recovery for the seriously ill patients.
There is an increased need for workplace management of anxiety and anger, providing mental health and psychosocial support, disseminating evidence-based information on reducing alcohol abuse among the population, and providing psychological counselling at workplace.
About “Strengthening health systems capacity in response to COVID-19 outbreak in Mongolia” project
A one-year joint project “Strengthening health systems capacity in response to COVID-19 outbreak in Mongolia” was launched in October 2021. The United States Agency for International Development is provided USD1.5 million and WHO is providing technical guidance to Mongolia’s health sector. The project is being implemented by WHO Mongolia focusing on the areas of: Providing urgent medical equipment and critical devices to health care facilities; Preparing for a possible stage 3 COVID-19 outbreak; and Improving essential health delivery and COVID-19 related health services at health care facility level.