Mental Health

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HD6: Mental Health Policy Development and Implementation in Africa: breaking the cycle of mental ill-health and poverty

The research programme consortium aims to provide new knowledge regarding comprehensive multi-sectoral approaches to breaking the negative cycle of poverty and mental ill-health. The programme will undertake an analysis of existing mental health policies in African countries, provide interventions to assist in the development and implementation of mental health policies in those countries, and evaluate the policy implementation over a 5-year period.

The programme will be conducted in four countries that represent a variety of scenarios in mental health policy development and implementation: Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

Strategies for making mental health care accessible to poor communities will be documented, for instance through primary health care and non-health sectors, with an emphasis on promoting mental health and providing care for those who most need it and can least afford it.

Capacity will be built in mental health research, policy making, service planning and service delivery. The RPC will provide a coherent body of high quality policy relevant new knowledge to assist other developing countries to break the cycle of poverty and mental ill-health.

The consortium will be led by the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town and will include:

• Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence, World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva
• African Regional Office of WHO, Brazzaville
• Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development, University of Leeds
• University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban
• Human Sciences Research Council, Durban
• Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London
• Kintampo Health Research Centre, Accra
• Makerere University Medical School, Kampala
• University of Zambia, Lusaka.