With one foot planted in the Central American jungles and the other dipped in the Caribbean Sea, Belize blends the best of both worlds for sun-deprived, seasonally-depressed tourists. While Belizeans may not suffer from our winter blahs, they are not immune to mental health issues. The problem is, there is only one psychiatrist for nearly 300,000 people. Dr. Claudina Cayetano is Chief Psychiatrist and Director of the Mental Health Program in Belize. Luckily, Dr. Cayetano can rely on a group of psychiatric nurse practitioners and of primary care health workers who play an instrumental role in meeting the needs of the communities in which they serve.

The WHO/PAHO* Collaborating Centre and McGill University are currently involved in a project to provide Belizean nurse practitioners and primary care workers with the tools necessary to ensure early detection of depression and anxiety disorders. Another objective is to assist these health workers in destigmatizing mental health problems and fighting discrimination against the mentally ill. It is a common belief in Belize that mental illness is caused by bad spirits. Those who are mentally ill in Belizean society are normally shunned and are not given employment opportunities. As a result, many end up poor and homeless.

Marc Laporta, MD, Assistant Director of the Montreal WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre based at the Douglas Institute explains: “The WHO/McGill collaboration with the Mental Health Program in Belize came out of a private donation specifically targeted at this kind of training for medical students. It is aimed at providing the practitioners of Belize with practical, hands-on clinical teaching, mainly through McGill fourth-year medical students.” The senior student interested in the initiative is Julian Z. Xue who will spend one month in Belize. Dr. Laporta adds: “Julian will have a pretty hectic schedule, as he is slated to give a series of talks and discussions in various clinical settings around the whole country. It will not be a vacation, and this is fine with him. This student – and there are others like him – believes very firmly in the importance of contributing to improve the health and conditions of people in need, and he is willing to go wherever that conviction may take him.”

The health practitioners will learn from the student about early detection and destigmatization; in turn, the student will learn from these hands-on practitioners how to approach mental health issues with ethnicity and culture as central concerns when caring for patients. The entire process has the potential to improve psychiatric care in Belize, and to fight ignorance about mental illness.

Ultimately, the WHO Collaborating Centre is aiming to develop other similar programs which take international and even global mental health matters into consideration. There is no doubt that professionals from Douglas Institute and from McGill University have much enthusiasm and expertise to put forth.