Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T05:31:39.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychiatry in paradise – the Solomon Islands

Part of: BJPsych International Country Profiles Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Ashok N. Singh  and
Paul Orotaloa
Ashok N. Singh
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, Linconshire, UK, email Ashok.Singh@LPFT.nhs.uk
Paul Orotaloa
Affiliation:
Mental Health Unit, National Referral Hospital, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The Solomon Islands is situated in the South Pacific Ocean and is a low-income country. It comprises nearly 1000 islands with a total land area of 304 000 km2 spread over a sea area of about 1 500 000 km2, making communications, travel and service delivery difficult and creating inequities in access. The population of the Solomon Islands was estimated to be just over 580 000 in 2008, and is young, with 42% aged under 15 years (Solomon Islands Ministry of Health, 2006). The majority of the people are Melanesian (93%) and 98% of the population belong to a Christian church. The population is, though, extremely diverse, with 91 indigenous languages and dialects being spoken, in addition to the Solomon Islands pijin (the most common language) and English (the official national language). Over 83% of the population live in rural areas, where subsistence agriculture, fishing and food gathering are the main sources of income. There is no substantial tourist industry. The gross domestic product (GDP) is US$1.5 billion and annual per capita income is approximately US$2800 (International Monetary Fund, 2009). Total expenditure on health represented 5.6% of GDP but only 1% of the total health budget is allocated to mental health (World Health Organization, 2005).

Type
Country Profiles
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , May 2011 , pp. 38 - 40
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 © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2011

References

Blignault, I., Bunde-Birouste, A., Ritchie, J., et al (2009) Community perception of mental health needs: a qualitative study in the Solomon Islands. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 3, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finau, S. & Losalo, P. (1985) Suicide and parasuicide in Paradise. New Zealand Family Medicine, 9, 27–57.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (2009) The Solomon Islands. IMF.Google Scholar
Singh, A. N. (2010) Report on Volunteer Placement in the Solomon Islands with the WHO Pacific Mental Health Network. Royal College of Psychiatrists. Available at http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/members/internationalaffairsunit/volunteersprogramme/solomonislandsreport.aspx (accessed March 2011).Google Scholar
Solomon Islands Ministry of Health (2006) Institutional Strengthening Project – Solomon Islands National Health Review. SIMOH.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2005) 2005 WHO Mental Health Atlas. WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.