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Integrating mental health into primary health care in Zambia: a care provider's perspective

BACKGROUND: Despite the 1991 reforms of the health system in Zambia, mental health is still given low priority. This is evident from the fragmented manner in which mental health services are provided in the country and the limited budget allocations, with mental health services receiving 0.4% of the...

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Autores principales: Mwape, Lonia, Sikwese, Alice, Kapungwe, Augustus, Mwanza, Jason, Flisher, Alan, Lund, Crick, Cooper, Sara
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2919445/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20653981
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1752-4458-4-21
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author Mwape, Lonia
Sikwese, Alice
Kapungwe, Augustus
Mwanza, Jason
Flisher, Alan
Lund, Crick
Cooper, Sara
author_facet Mwape, Lonia
Sikwese, Alice
Kapungwe, Augustus
Mwanza, Jason
Flisher, Alan
Lund, Crick
Cooper, Sara
author_sort Mwape, Lonia
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Despite the 1991 reforms of the health system in Zambia, mental health is still given low priority. This is evident from the fragmented manner in which mental health services are provided in the country and the limited budget allocations, with mental health services receiving 0.4% of the total health budget. Most of the mental health services provided are curative in nature and based in tertiary health institutions. At primary health care level, there is either absence of, or fragmented health services. AIMS: The aim of this paper was to explore health providers' views about mental health integration into primary health care. METHODS: A mixed methods, structured survey was conducted of 111 health service providers in primary health care centres, drawn from one urban setting (Lusaka) and one rural setting (Mumbwa). RESULTS: There is strong support for integrating mental health into primary health care from care providers, as a way of facilitating early detection and intervention for mental health problems. Participants believed that this would contribute to the reduction of stigma and the promotion of human rights for people with mental health problems. However, health providers felt they require basic training in order to enhance their knowledge and skills in providing health care to people with mental health problems. RECOMMENDATIONS: It is recommended that health care providers should be provided with basic training in mental health in order to enhance their knowledge and skills to enable them provide mental health care to patients seeking help at primary health care level. CONCLUSION: Integrating mental health services into primary health care is critical to improving and promoting the mental health of the population in Zambia.
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spelling pubmed-29194452010-08-11 Integrating mental health into primary health care in Zambia: a care provider's perspective Mwape, Lonia Sikwese, Alice Kapungwe, Augustus Mwanza, Jason Flisher, Alan Lund, Crick Cooper, Sara Int J Ment Health Syst Research BACKGROUND: Despite the 1991 reforms of the health system in Zambia, mental health is still given low priority. This is evident from the fragmented manner in which mental health services are provided in the country and the limited budget allocations, with mental health services receiving 0.4% of the total health budget. Most of the mental health services provided are curative in nature and based in tertiary health institutions. At primary health care level, there is either absence of, or fragmented health services. AIMS: The aim of this paper was to explore health providers' views about mental health integration into primary health care. METHODS: A mixed methods, structured survey was conducted of 111 health service providers in primary health care centres, drawn from one urban setting (Lusaka) and one rural setting (Mumbwa). RESULTS: There is strong support for integrating mental health into primary health care from care providers, as a way of facilitating early detection and intervention for mental health problems. Participants believed that this would contribute to the reduction of stigma and the promotion of human rights for people with mental health problems. However, health providers felt they require basic training in order to enhance their knowledge and skills in providing health care to people with mental health problems. RECOMMENDATIONS: It is recommended that health care providers should be provided with basic training in mental health in order to enhance their knowledge and skills to enable them provide mental health care to patients seeking help at primary health care level. CONCLUSION: Integrating mental health services into primary health care is critical to improving and promoting the mental health of the population in Zambia. BioMed Central 2010-07-25 /pmc/articles/PMC2919445/ /pubmed/20653981 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1752-4458-4-21 Text en Copyright ©2010 Mwape et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Mwape, Lonia
Sikwese, Alice
Kapungwe, Augustus
Mwanza, Jason
Flisher, Alan
Lund, Crick
Cooper, Sara
Integrating mental health into primary health care in Zambia: a care provider's perspective
title Integrating mental health into primary health care in Zambia: a care provider's perspective
title_full Integrating mental health into primary health care in Zambia: a care provider's perspective
title_fullStr Integrating mental health into primary health care in Zambia: a care provider's perspective
title_full_unstemmed Integrating mental health into primary health care in Zambia: a care provider's perspective
title_short Integrating mental health into primary health care in Zambia: a care provider's perspective
title_sort integrating mental health into primary health care in zambia: a care provider's perspective
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2919445/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20653981
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1752-4458-4-21
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