title: Mental health in the Solomon Islands: developing reforms and partnerships.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Solomon Islands face significant shortages and geographical imbalances in the distribution of skilled health workers and resources, which severely impact the delivery of mental health services. The government's Integrated Mental Health Service has emphasised the importance of greater community ownership and involvement in community-based mental health care, and of moving from centralised services to increased local and accessible care.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 2012 to 2014, the Solomon Islands Integrated Mental Health service worked with Asia-Australia Mental Health to build workforce capacity and deliver sustainable community mental health programs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Supported by the Australian Aid Program's Public Sector Linkages Program, this project shared resources and fostered links between public sector agencies in Australia, Fiji and the Solomon Islands.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Key learning points from the collaboration included the critical need to establish partnerships with community stakeholders, the importance of sustaining a well-functioning mental health team, and optimising the strengths of the local resources in the Solomon Islands. Through this project, national policies, promotion and service delivery were strengthened, through the exchange of experiences and mobilisation of north-south (Australia-Solomon Islands) and south-south (Solomon Islands-other Pacific nations) technical expertise. This project demonstrates the potential for international partnerships to contribute to the development of culturally-appropriate and integrated mental health services.
authors.affiliation: St. Vincent's Mental Health, Asia-Australia Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia brigid.ryan2@svha.org.au.
authors.forename: Brigid
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Integrated Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Solomon Islands.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Orotaloa
authors.affiliation: Integrated Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Solomon Islands.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Araitewa
authors.affiliation: Integrated Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Solomon Islands.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaoifa
authors.affiliation: Integrated Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Solomon Islands.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moreen
authors.affiliation: Integrated Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Solomon Islands.
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kiloe
authors.affiliation: Integrated Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Solomon Islands.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Same
authors.affiliation: St. Vincent's Mental Health, Asia-Australia Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goding
authors.affiliation: Asia-Australia Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and St. Vincent's Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, and; Professorial Unit, The Melbourne Clinic Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Chee
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ng
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D033161:Government Regulation; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D008542:Melanesia; D008603:Mental Health; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011050:Policy Making
keywords: Asia-Australia Mental Health; Australian Aid Program; Solomon Islands; collaboration; international partnerships; mental health; mental health reform; optimisation; problem solving