A factsheet which describes the innovative provision of primary mental health care in rural India.

Background:

The project is led by the George Institute India and funders include the National Health and Medical Research Australia, Wellcome Trust/DBY India alliance and Grand Challenges Canada

Aims:

The project aims to evaluate two main components:

1. A community-based campaign to reduce stigma associated with mental illness

2. A primary healthcare working intervention using using a mobile device based support system to treat those over 18 years old with common mental disorders (CMD).

Impact

• The preliminary work for this project commenced in early 2014, involving over 50,000 participants in over 40 villages.

From 2018 the strategy will be tested over four years in a large randomised trial in Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.