Strengthening integrated depression services in routine primary healthcare

What is it about?

Integration of mental health services within routine primary health care (PHC) can improve health outcomes of other conditions as well as narrow the treatment gap for mental health conditions. Implementation within routine primary health care settings remains a challenge, especially in resource-constrained settings. We used implementation science methods within the context of a learning collaborative with policy makers, managers and implementers to iteratively identify and strengthen implementation strategies that would optimize integration of depression care within routine PHC services in South Africa.

Featured Image

Photo by Francisco Venâncio on Unsplash

Photo by Francisco Venâncio on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings demonstrate that implementation research is important to improve integrated evidence-based interventions for mental health care within routine PHC services in scarce-resource settings. To this end, researchers need to work collaboratively with policy makers, managers and implementers to systematically identify and resolve implementation challenges along the care cascade for other conditions in the system.

Perspectives

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This article is a product of many years of work in South Africa to promote the integration of mental health into primary health care so as to enable people in need of care to be able to get the help they need. It has highlighted the importance of embedded collaborative research in low- and middle-income countries. It also raises the question whether global health researchers located in high-income settings can achieve this level of societal impact.

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