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Mental health in the Dominican Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Miguel R. Hernández
Affiliation:
New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, USA, email mh2330@columbia.edu
Tresha Ann Gibbs
Affiliation:
Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and New York State Psychiatric Institute, USA
Luisa Gautreaux-Subervi
Affiliation:
Padre Billini Psychiatric Hospital, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
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The Dominican Republic is located in the Caribbean Sea and comprises three-quarters of the island Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti. According to the 2002 census, approximately 8.5 million people live in the Republic, with 64% residing in urban areas (Oficina Nacional Estadística, n.d.). During 1990 and 2000, the Dominican Republic was a leader in economic development for Latin America and the Caribbean; however, this was not reflected in the areas of human and social development (Pan American Health Organization & World Health Organization, 2007). Less than 1 % of the health budget administered by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (MISPAS) is allocated to mental health and the public system is generally underfunded (Pan American Health Organization & World Health Organization, 2008). However, there is an array of mental health services within the country when privately funded facilities are taken into account.

Type
Country Profiles
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2011

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