This project was activated to implement of one of the streams of the Lagos State Mental Health Policy: Capacity building of human resources for health to provide mental health services. This policy stream specifically seeks to align with the WHO recommendation of integrating mental health into primary health care as the 9th component of Primary Health Care.
MeHPriC focuses on training health care workers from the flagship PHCs in recognizing and managing common mental disorders and psychiatric emergencies.
As such, the project employs the Task Shifting/Task Sharing Policy of the Lagos State Ministry of Health and centers on:
- Capacity building of healthcare professionals at the primary health care level
- Availability of psychiatric services at secondary care level
- Effective referral system
- Pharmaceutical services
- Data management
The objectives of this project include:
- To improve the knowledge and skills of medical personnel in attending to patients who require mental health care
- To ensure early identification of mental illnesses and institute appropriate interventions or referral
- To allow for the use of appropriate drug management for simple and common mental disorders in the various government-owned health centers
- To improve quality health care delivery at the first level of care by including mental health care in primary health care
