E. Nunez :MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION IN MEXICO

The mental health services administration in Mexico was born in the year 1943, with the establishment of the Health and Assistance Secretariat and the Mexican Institute of Social Security. These institutions complement each other in dealing with the health services for the national population. Public politics for health services and in particular mental health services were for four decades based on a centralized model, which limited the organization of services for both care and education in most of the national territory. In 1983, a new health legislation was established, which promoted a decentralization of the public health services. This policy produced initially not homogeneous results. Thus, the process was strengthened fifteen years after its initial formulation. During the evolution and trajectory of this process, the organization of the mental health services has been directly influenced. There have been both some advances and some delays. Therefore, it was proposed to separate these services from the general decentralized model.