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How Has Samoa’s Mental Health System Developed Over Time?

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Mental Health Public Policy in Global Context

Abstract

This chapter explores the establishment of Samoa’s mental health system. Firstly, I outline Samoa’s key governmental and health system institutions and provide a historical overview to the mental health policy setting. This section includes consideration of Samoa’s indigenous governance institutions and the period of German colonialism with its introduction of state structures, law and regulation. These have both contributed significantly to the contemporary mental health policy context by introducing official attitudes and indigenous constructions of mental health and German colonial introduction of the hospital, prison and public health ordinances, including the government’s right to confine individuals under the guise of quarantine regulations. New Zealand’s administration of Samoa is also considered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Timothy Philip Fadgen

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  1. Timothy Philip Fadgen
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Fadgen, T.P. (2020). How Has Samoa’s Mental Health System Developed Over Time?. In: Mental Health Public Policy in Global Context . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6479-6_5

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