Mental health and the development agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article synthesizes the views of participants in two roundtables that were convened in Nairobi (March 2007) and London (July 2008) to identify key challenges to the prioritization of mental health in Africa and possible solutions. Participants included leading development experts and policy makers from head and country offices of international donors, national directors of mental health for several African countries, key mental health and public health professionals, epidemiologists, and an international nongovernmental organization. The challenges they identified to mainstreaming mental health include lack of understanding of the contribution of mental disorders to morbidity and mortality, competition for limited resources within health reform efforts, poor distribution of interventions and lack of inclusion of mental health among core generic health indicators, lack of economic research evidence, lack of a strategic approach to human resources planning, lack of partnerships with the social development sector, and mental health professionals' need for public health skills to effectively conduct national advocacy. Potential solutions include further investment in economic research, better strategic identification of the levers and entry points for integrating mental health into health sector reform plans, more vigorous engagement of mental health professionals in general health sector reforms, strengthening the linkage between mental health and social development, and intensive resource mobilization. In summary, partnerships, underpinned by collaborative training, research, and mutual dialogue with other health and nonhealth sectors, are needed.