Photo caption: The National Center for Mental Health within Jordan's Ministry of Health has been renovated to improve its infrastructure, with the aim of creating a more therapeutic environment while upholding human rights.
Photo credit: WHO Jordan.
Enhancing the quality of care at Jordan’s National Center for Mental Health
Jordan’s National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) is tasked with delivering the full range of mental health services. Until recently, though, the 205-bed facility – which sits under the Ministry of Health – was not set up to provide holistic care in line with human rights considerations. Main challenges included the centre’s ageing infrastructure and the deteriorating condition of its facilities. The design of the centre, with its open spaces, also made it hard to ensure patient privacy. NCMH also suffered because of its model of care, workforce mix, shortage of human resources and limited prospects for capacity-building.
To resolve these issues, WHO Jordan provided technical and financial support to NCMH from September 2021 to January 2022 to upgrade its facilities, reorganize the service delivery model and enhance staff capacities from to create a more therapeutic environment for patients while upholding human rights. These activities were carried out in line with the National Mental Health and Substance Use Action Plan 2022–2026, which WHO Jordan helped to update in 2022. The Action Plan advocates for community-based mental health services, delivered in an integrated way across the health system, to both improve quality of care¬ and protect human rights.
Photo caption: Before WHO’s intervention, Jordan’s National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) was in relatively poor condition.
Photo credit: WHO Jordan.
How did Jordan, with the support of WHO, achieve this?
WHO support to upgrade the NCMH care environment and safeguard human rights included:
high-level meetings with Ministry of Health leaders to advocate for deinstitutionalization; restructuring of governance for mental health within the Ministry; and mobilizing action for reform;
organizing study visits to the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Italy, to orient senior management and staff to support deinstitutionalization and the development of integrated and comprehensive community mental health services;
development of an evidence-based road map to speed up reorientation of mental health services and facilitate reform;
conducting training workshops for health workers to develop their essential knowledge of the concepts of disability, handicap, stigma, discrimination and recovery; of psychosocial rehabilitation; and of strategies to address the needs of people with severe psychosocial disability;
financial support to enable the renovation of NCMH, focusing on 3 chronic care units, which were transformed into subacute units, to support shorter hospital stays and speed up patients’ reintegration into the community.
Dr Mekhled Al-Balawneh, Deputy Director of NCMH
About 75 patients are already benefiting from the markedly better equipped and improved care environment. This intervention by WHO was an important step towards supporting the deinstitutionalization process, safeguarding basic human rights and improving quality of care. Patient outcomes have improved, prompting NCMH to ask WHO Jordan to extend its technical and logistics support to the facility. WHO has pledged ongoing collaboration with NCMH, committing to elevate the standards of mental health facilities across Jordan.
Dr Jamela Al-Raiby, WHO Representative in Jordan
WHO’s Key Contributions
Organized study visits to WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health in Italy.
Organized technical missions to advocate for deinstitutionalization; restructuring of governance for mental health within the Ministry; and mobilizing action for reform;
Developed a comprehensive evidence-based roadmap to accelerate re-orienting of mental health services.
Provided technical support in the development of the new National Action Plan2022-26 and building up the capacity of multidisciplinary teams at the NCMH teams
Provided financial support to facilitate the necessary renovations and imp