Mental Health Initiative in Tanzania: Building Capacity, Changing Lives
[Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre]
Objective
Lead initiatives to build mental health treatment capacity and social science research capacity at major Tanzanian academic medical center and in the regional medical system serving over a quarter of the population of Tanzania.
Approach
Formed a mental health task force among key stakeholders, developed a regional health systems laboratory, enlisted collaborators, and carried out a mixed-methods population study of mental health and well-being.
Outcomes
Identified unique mental health challenges faced by distinct groups within community; the especially heavy mental health burden experienced by poor, rural women; and high-ROI solutions to alleviating their burden available through investments in education and family stability.
Insights challenged conventional wisdom, exposed limitation of one-size=fits all solutions, and showed how to improve upon common Western approaches to building mental health treatment capacity in LMIC.