Joint International Collaboration to Combat Mental Health Challenges During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Abstract

In the past several months, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has received extensive attention globally.It was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, at the end of 2019 and was transmitted to multiple regions of China and subsequently to many countries in the East and the West.As of March 30, 2020, the number of patients infected with COVID-19 has rapidly reached 693 224 globally, especially across the North American, European, and Eastern Mediterranean regions, including in the US, Italy, Spain, and Iran. 1 The rapid transmission of COVID-19, high fatality rates in subpopulations, lack of effective treatments and vaccines, and mass quarantine measures have led to common mental health problems, such as fear, anxiety, depression, and sleep problems, in patients with COVID-19 infections, close contacts, the public, and even health care professionals. 2,3Therefore, there is a pressing need to establish appropriate mental health services to address the risk of psychiatric morbidities.Mental health professionals are facing insurmountable challenges because of the lack of relevant guidelines, scant mental health resources, and inadequate training to provide mental health services in isolation infectious units and hospitals.Patients with serious psychiatric needs are considered a highly vulnerable population to contract COVID-19.For example, hundreds of patients with psychiatric disorders, as well as mental health professionals, were infected in China. 4 As such, a joint effort to establish international collaboration is urgently needed to address the mental health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.To reduce the risk of negative psychological outcomes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Health Authority of China and different national academic societies have integrated mental health crisis interventions into the general deployment of disease prevention and treatment.More than 20 specific guidelines and expert consensus for mental health services for the COVID-19 outbreak were disseminated by the end of February 2020 5 to provide timely guidance for frontline health care professionals.External mental health expert teams in other provinces were also established to provide emergency mental health services in Hubei province, China.In addition, widespread adoption of online public education, psychological counseling, and hotline services have been set up for those in need.