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

Abstract

There is strong international consensus that narrowing the treatment gap in LMICs requires the integration of mental health into primary care, including maternal health care [7]. Such integration provides a number of advantages, including more holistic health care, increased accessibility of mental health services for people in need of care, opportunities for reducing the stigma of mental health problems by not clearly identifying patients who are receiving mental health care (which is often the case if they attend specialist facilities such as psychiatric hospitals), and reduced costs [8,9]. 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.