PRIME: a programme to reduce the treatment gap for mental disorders in five low- and middle-income countries.

Shoba Raja,Mark Tomlinson,Lara Fairall,Inge Petersen,Fred Kigozi,Dan Chisholm,Vikram Patel,Simone Honikman,Arvin Bhana,Mark J. D. Jordans ,Abebaw Fekadu,Crick Lund,Sarah Kippen-Wood,Ritsuko Kakuma,Mary De Silva,Martin Prince,Shekhar Saxena,Charlotte Hanlon,David McDaid,Rahul Shidhaye,Graham Thornicroft

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001359

Abstract

Crick Lund and colleagues describe their plans for the PRogramme for Improving Mental health carE (PRIME), which aims to generate evidence on implementing and scaling up integrated packages of care for priority mental disorders in primary and maternal health care contexts in Ethiopia, India, Nepal, South Africa, and Uganda.

Highlights

The need for mental health care services is high
More than 13% of the global burden of disease is due to neuropsychiatric disorders, and almost threequarters of this burden lies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) [1]
Budgets and human resources provided by ministries of health (MoH) for mental health care remain woefully inadequate to address the treatment gap, in LMICs [6]

Summary

Background

The need for mental health care services is high. More than 13% of the global burden of disease is due to neuropsychiatric disorders, and almost threequarters of this burden lies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) [1]. There is a growing body of evidence testifying to both the efficacy of specific treatments for priority mental disorders (see Box 1) in LMICs and their cost-effectiveness [10] This evidence has informed the policies of the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), with its objective of scaling up services for mental, neurological, and substance use disorders [11,12,13]. N The aim of the Programme for Improving Mental Health Care (PRIME) is to generate evidence on the implementation and scaling up of integrated packages of care for priority mental disorders in primary and maternal health care contexts in Ethiopia, India, Nepal, South Africa, and Uganda. PRIME will seek to refine the knowledge on health systems interventions needed to deliver and scale up mental health care, with an emphasis on integrating care of priority mental disorders into routine primary and maternal health care

Working in partnerships

Giving priority to key mental disorders

Reduction of inequities

Aims and Objectives of PRIME

Research Methods

Methods

Findings

Conclusion