Nearly 15% of Vietnam's population suffers from mental disorders

(NLDO) - Problems such as depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders are becoming more common among children, adolescents and women.

On October 9, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (VNU-HCM) organized the International Conference on Mental Health 2025 (MHC 2025) with the theme “Promoting multidisciplinary cooperation in assessment and intervention for children with neurodevelopmental disorders”. The event gathered about 200 domestic and foreign delegates.

In Vietnam, although the field of intervention for children with neurodevelopmental disorders is receiving increasing attention, there is still a lack of professional models, human resources and interdisciplinary coordination, causing many children to not receive adequate support for development and integration.

Dr. Le Hoang Dung, Vice Principal of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, emphasized many negative consequences for children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Statistics show that about 14.9% of the Vietnamese population (equivalent to nearly 15 million people) are suffering from at least one of the 10 common mental disorders. In particular, problems such as depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders are tending to be younger, spreading among children, adolescents and women.

Professor, Doctor, Doctor Dang Van Phuoc, Honorary Rector of the University of Health Sciences (VNU-HCM), said that local surveys show that 8% - 20% of children and adolescents have mental health problems, mainly emotional disorders such as anxiety, depression or difficulties in friendships and behavior.

Dr. Pikunthong Nukthamna, Shinawatra University (Thailand), presented a report on brain restructuring.

In recent years, Vietnam has implemented many synchronous solutions to improve school and community mental health, emphasizing the role of early prevention and multi-sectoral cooperation, because only when medical, psychological, educational and social work experts work together can they effectively meet the increasingly diverse support needs of children.

The conference gathered 50 scientific articles by hundreds of domestic and foreign authors with 5 main topics.

The MHC 2025 workshop is a practical step to concretize the Party and State's policies, promote inter-sectoral cooperation and share international experiences, towards a comprehensive, humane and sustainable mental health care system for Vietnamese children.

Neurodevelopmental disorders

Neurodevelopmental disorders are on the rise globally and are the most prevalent group of disorders in children under 15 years of age. An estimated 4.1% of children under 5 years of age and 7% of children aged 10-14 years have these disorders, equivalent to approximately 12.53 million children worldwide .

In Vietnam, although assessment and intervention work has made much progress, there are still many challenges:

- Lack of effective multi-sectoral cooperation models.

- Human resources are limited.

- The assessment tool is not complete.

- Public awareness is still low.

- Specialized service providers do not meet actual needs.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/gan-15-dan-so-viet-nam-mac-roi-loan-tam-than-196251009131459947.htm