BasicNeeds helps the governments of the countries we work in to integrate mental health care into its primary health care services by improving the services that the government has at the local level.

Working with governments is very important. Governments have to be able to provide vital services for their citizens. Working with and through governments, rather than around them, helps build a system where long-term community-based mental health care can be given to mentally ill people. Without this approach a long-term solution won’t be found.

Through facilitating local outreach clinics and mental health camps in the community, accessible and effective care can be delivered straight to mentally ill people. Without such facilities, mentally ill people often suffer as their illness goes untreated.

In Sri Lanka, people had to travel long distances to the nearest hospital to get treatment. This was expensive and cost valuable time as family members had to leave their jobs to escort their ill relatives on the long journey. This led to more and more people not taking up treatment or the treatment that they were receiving not being very effective.

BasicNeeds implemented regional mental health camps and outreach clinics so that psychiatrists and nurses could get out into the community to give people treatment close to where they lived. This dramatically improved recovery rates as people were more likely to attend follow-up sessions and wider support services and advice could be offered.

Without community outreach clinics, poor mentally ill people are going to continue suffering from mental illnesses that are easily treatable.

We also train primary health care staff so that mentally ill people can be identified by all doctors and nurses and receive the correct treatment quickly and efficiently.

In Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, we trained 150 primary health care workers in mental health. Now 70 government health facilities have at least two health workers who know about mental health and mental health services can at last be offered at each of these clinics.

As a result of the training, more mentally ill people have been identified and the number of mentally ill people seeking treatment has risen dramatically, from 201 to 488 in just six months.

Treatment is vital to the recovery of mentally ill people and through collaboration with governments we are strengthening their services so that they can start to provide proper care for mentally ill people in the long term.