Third Quarter 2002 Newsletter (Last Updated On: ) Paulo Alterwain, WFMH Regional Vice President, writes about the effects of the economic crisis in South America All of South America is experiencing important difficulties. Numerous new problems have been added to the existing problems and underdevelopment. Progress that has been made in the care of mentally ill patients is jeopardized where economic and financial difficulties have compelled reductions in public budgets, including health expenditures. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, having made strides in mental health, are confronting serious setbacks. There is a preoccupation with worsening conditions and the increased fragility of populations living in uncertainty or hopelessness. Alerts have been posted about the increase of patients registered in psychiatric hospitals. The new poverty is generating suffering, pathologies and diseases beyond depression. Suicides, homicides and violence have increased, and deaths related to hypertension, stroke and heart attack. The needs are growing for care of stress and post-traumatic personality disorders. Efforts to improve community-based delivery care systems and de-institutionalization from psychiatric hospitals are continuing. Consumer organizations are maintaining their efforts, but community-based services are at serious risk of deterioration. Additional planning for media attention is recommended to highlight the new poverty and social troubles in such countries as Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. We wish to point out that even under these conditions, our Argentine and Chilean affiliates are developing important new activities. A regional (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) meeting on Mental Health and Work During Periods of Crisis was held on September 6 and 7 in Cordoba, Argentina. Also in September, a course for physicians and professionals on primary mental health care was organized by the Chilean Society of Mental Health (Sociedad Chilena de Salud Mental) in Valdivia, Chile. South America needs international cooperation and government initiatives to deal with the socio-economic deterioration and the psychosocial reactions and other psychiatric problems linked to it. Strength and union. We continue working.