title: Scaling up services for mental and neurological disorders in low-resource settings.
abstract: Mental and neurological disorders (MNDs) account for a large, and growing, burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries. Most people do not have access to even basic health care for these disorders. Recent evidence shows that task-shifting to non-specialist community health workers is a feasible and effective strategy for delivery of efficacious treatments for specific MND in low-resource settings. New global initiatives, such as the WHO's mental health Gap Action Program, are utilizing this evidence to devise packages of care for specific MNDs. This paper describes a plan that seeks to integrate the evidence on the treatment of specific MNDs, based on a task-shifting paradigm, for scaling up services for MNDs at the level of a defined population. The plan was developed by a state government in India in collaboration with technical partners, as a model District Mental Health Program for India's National Mental Health Program.
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK.
authors.forename: Vikram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Digvijay Singh
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.forename: Rajnanda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Desai