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Depression is an important public health problem. It is the fourth cause of disease in the world in terms of lost years of healthy life. In Mexico, it ranks first in terms disability for women and ninth for men. There is a high comorbidity between depression and other mental disorders such as anxiety and substance abuse, as well as other serious and chronic physical conditions (e.g. diabetes, and heart disease). Despite the impact of depressive disorders in the quality of life of the population, there is a large proportion of people who don't get treatment, delaying seeking help and thus don't receive adequate assistance. The aim of this paper is to present an analysis of depression status in the Mexican population from a public health perspective; it includes prevalence and associated factors, gaps in care, characteristics of the use of services and treatments available. The paper concludes with a presentation of the implications for research and mental health policy in Mexico.

This paper focuses on the links between the WHO atlas on global resources for persons with intellectual disabilities (Atlas-ID) project and the right to health in international human rights law. The WHO Atlas-ID project initiated by the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse of the WHO was designed to collect, compile and disseminate data on intellectual disabilities services and resources throughout the world. The right to health, as linked to all other human rights, brings a set of globally agreed upon norms and standards, and out of these norms arise governmental obligations. Even in countries which have a relatively high standard of living, persons with intellectual disabilities are very often denied the opportunity to enjoy the full range of economic, social and cultural rights. This paper aims at establishing the WHO Atlas-ID and the international human rights instruments as two parts of a holistic approach in regards to State provided services to persons with intellectual disabilities and their families.

Velarde-Jurado E, Avila-Figueroa C. Methods for quality of life assessment. Salud Publica Mex 2002;44:349-361. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html Abstract This paper reviews the methods and principles for quality of life assessment. The aging of the population and the im- proved survival of people with acute and chronic condi- tions have produced several levels of disability requiring long-term treatment and rehabilitation. In 1948 the World Health Organization defined health as not merely the ab- sence of disease but rather a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being. This term evolved from its conceptual definition to the development of scales to mea- sure the quality of life beyond physical status. Thus, quality of life assessment includes areas such as mental health, so- cial support, and life satisfaction. It is recognized that the expectations, vitality, pain, disability, and personal experien- ces influence the perception of a person's general health. A composite measurement aimed to quantify health accord- ing to physical, mental, and social well being simultaneously would likely find people at different points on the three different continua, but in the midranges of the composite. The multidimensionality problems and the level of subjec- tivity involved in the assessment of the quality of life re- quire valid and reliable instruments. This paper present an inventory of 126 questionnaires aimed to measure the quality of life for several diseases and populations. A better under- standing of the methods to assess the quality of life will allow the incorporation of these instruments in the com- prehensive assessment of patients, into clinical trials, and for health services research. The English version of this pa- per is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html

This paper reviews the methods and principles for quality of life assessment. The aging of the population and the improved survival of people with acute and chronic conditions have produced several levels of disability requiring long-term treatment and rehabilitation. In 1948 the World Health Organization defined health as not merely the absence of disease but rather a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being. This term evolved from its conceptual definition to the development of scales to measure the quality of life beyond physical status. Thus, quality of life assessment includes areas such as mental health, social support, and life satisfaction. It is recognized that the expectations, vitality, pain, disability, and personal experiences influence the perception of a person's general health. A composite measurement aimed to quantify health according to physical, mental, and social well being simultaneously would likely include people at clearly different points on the three different continua, but in the midranges of the composite. The multidimensionality problems and the level of subjectivity involved in the assessment of the quality of life require valid and reliable instruments. This paper present an inventory of 126 questionnaires aimed to measure the quality of life for several diseases and populations. A better understanding of the methods to assess the quality of life will allow the incorporation of these instruments in the comprehensive assessment of patients, into clinical trials, and for health services research.

This paper takes as its basis the concept of comprehensive health care. The need to try out complementary approaches to health care is emphasized in order to ameliorate the effects of the epidemiological transition. The approach of Primary Health Care as a basic strategy is also presented. The importance of applying health system population approach to health care is also analyzed. A number of health care alternatives are presented in order to stabilize the health of a community. Within these alternatives the training of human resources with a focus on prevention as well as the curative approach are presented. The role that the psychologist plays within the comprehensive health care is also described. Also the authors describe an innovative training program directed to Psychologists at this stage, that integrates a Master on Public Health with emphasis in mental health with a residence program in Comprehensive Health Care as an option to contribute to replicate the alternatives of care presented in the paper. Finally, the programs and their advances are presented.

This paper discusses the conditions in which the Commission on Health Research for Development was born. The main purpose of this Commission is to promote research as a mean to achieve better health conditions.