National Health Commission： Strengthen the prevention and treatment of depression and carry out screening and evaluation.

　　BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) According to the website of National Health Commission, the General Office of the National Health and Wellness Commission recently issued the Work Plan for Exploring the Special Services for Depression Prevention and Treatment in order to implement the relevant requirements of the Mental Health Promotion Action of Healthy China Action (2019-2030), increase the intensity of depression prevention and treatment, and encourage the pilot areas of social psychological service system construction to explore the special services for depression prevention and treatment. The plan requires medical and health institutions, physical examination centers, colleges and universities to carry out depression screening through online and offline forms.

　　The plan has set the working objectives of the pilot areas until 2022, including the public’s awareness rate of depression prevention and treatment knowledge reaching 80%, the rate of depression treatment increasing by 50%, the treatment rate increasing by 30%, and the recognition rate of depression by doctors in non-psychiatric hospitals increasing by 50%.

　　The plan defines six key tasks: First, strengthen prevention and control knowledge education. The pilot areas are required to strengthen departmental cooperation, adopt various publicity methods and channels, and widely carry out popular science propaganda on depression prevention and treatment knowledge.

　　The second is to carry out screening and evaluation. Medical and health institutions, physical examination centers, colleges and universities are required to carry out depression screening through online and offline forms.

　　The third is to improve the ability of early diagnosis and standardized treatment. Medical and health institutions at all levels, maternal and child health hospitals, traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, etc. are required to set up psychiatric (psychological) departments, increase the training of non-psychiatric specialists, and improve the ability to identify and diagnose depression.

　　The fourth is to increase the intervention of key groups. For teenagers, pregnant women, the elderly, high-pressure occupational groups, respectively, put forward mental health service measures.

　　The fifth is to strengthen the psychological hotline service. It is required to build the psychological assistance hotline into a convenient platform for the public to consult, ask for help, guide, intervene in crisis and refer.

　　Sixth, psychological intervention should be carried out in time. All localities are required to establish and improve professional psychological crisis intervention teams, and organize psychological counseling and psychological intervention in time when emergencies occur.