Abstract
Background: Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to mental, neurological and substance use disorders during various stages of their growth and development. They often require specialized personnel whose training is time consuming and costly. Consequently many children and adolescents remain untreated in developing countries. This paper describes steps Uganda is taking to develop local capacity for child and adolescent mental health services through training of multi-disciplinary teams.Methods: A 2 year training programme was introduced in accordance with the Ugandan Ministry of Health Child and Adolescent Mental Health Strategy. This had been jointly developed in 2008 by Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Makerere University, the Uganda Ministry of Health and East London Foundation NHS Trust, United Kingdom (UK). The initial funding for the programme focused on monitoring and evaluation of the training, quality of clinical practice and clinical activity data.Results: Fifty health workers have been trained and are now working at regional referral hospitals and non-governmental organizations. Monitoring and evaluation demonstrated major increases in the range of disorders and client numbers (2,184–31,034) over 6 years. There was increased confidence, knowledge and skills in assessment. Learning in a multidisciplinary environment was interesting and helpful. Assessments were more thorough and child centred and more psychological treatments were being used. Programme graduates are now contributing as trainers.Conclusion: The clinically focused multidisciplinary training has yielded rewarding outcomes across Uganda. Ongoing support and collaborative work can expand service capacity in child and adolescent mental health for Uganda and other developing countries.
Highlights
Children and adolescents are vulnerable to certain specific mental, neurological and substance use disorders (MNS) due to their incomplete physical, mental and social growth and development [1,2,3]
Child and adolescent mental health problems present in broadly similar ways globally but there are specific differences associated with LMICs
This paper describes steps Uganda is taking to develop local capacity for child and adolescent mental health services through training of multi-disciplinary teams with the introduction of a university accredited Advanced Diploma in CAMH for public health workers and national CAMH policy guidelines
Summary
Children and adolescents are vulnerable to certain specific mental, neurological and substance use disorders (MNS) due to their incomplete physical, mental and social growth and development [1,2,3]. Substance use disorders and psychosis are more common in adolescence [4, 5]. Girls tend to have more emotional disorders and psychosis especially in adolescence while developmental, behavioral and conduct disorders are more common in boys. Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to mental, neurological and substance use disorders during various stages of their growth and development. They often require specialized personnel whose training is time consuming and costly. This paper describes steps Uganda is taking to develop local capacity for child and adolescent mental health services through training of multi-disciplinary teams
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