Integrating mental health

The global burden of disease for mental health problems is substantial, but because of scarce resources that are unequally distributed and inefficiently used, the majority of patients do not receive the care they need, especially in low and middle income countries. A proposed solution for this treatment gap is the integration of mental health into primary health care. Evidence shows that task shifting approaches in which non-specialist health workers are trained to recognize and treat common mental health problems can be effective, but it has not yet been widely adopted in the developing world. Furthermore, little research has been done on the quality of mental health care given in projects where mental health is integrated into primary care institutions and how it can be improved. Ms. Ellis Veen’s research project for her masters degree in Global health from Maastricht University and her internship with IPH is about a case study of quality improvement at the Gumballi primary health care centre in Karnataka, India. The main research question was “What constitutes quality of mental health care at Gumballi PHC, how can it be improved and what lessons can we learn from it for the integration of mental health into primary care in India?”