EMERging mentAL health systems in low- and miDdle-income countries (EMERALD)
About
The EMERging mentAL health systems in low- and miDdle-income countries (EMERALD) Project is a five year research programme (2012-2017) which involves various research studies, funded through the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) under the EMERALD grant agreement n° 305968. EMERALD brings together specialised psychiatrists, psychologist and health systems experts from Europe, Africa and Asia and is centrally coordinated by Prof. Graham Thornicroft of the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London (KCL).
Institutional Partners
The EMERALD consortium consists of 12 participating institutions based in five different EU member states as well as six partners in Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda, namely:
- King’s College London (United Kingdom)
- Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia)
- Public Health Foundation of India
- Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO, Nepal)
- University of Ibadan (Nigeria)
- University of Cape Town (South Africa)
- University of KwaZulu Natal (South Africa)
- Butabika National Mental Hospital (Uganda)
- HealthNet TPO (The Netherlands).
- GABO:mi (Munich)
Objectives
This international consortium is collaborating to improve mental health outcomes by enhancing health system performance. Building on the health system strengthening expertise in our partnership, we intend to devote research, and research capacity building, time and effort to pursue the following overall objectives:
Objective 1: Adequate, fair and sustainable resourcing: To identify health system resources, financing mechanisms and information needed to scale-up mental health services and move towards universal coverage.
Objective 2: Integrated service provision: To evaluate the context, process, experience and health system implications of mental health service implementation.
Objective 3: Improved coverage and goal attainment: To develop, use and monitor indicators of mental health service coverage and system performance.
EMERALD is structured into six work packages (WPs). Each WP has an academic lead that is responsible for the management and the results of their WP. UCT leads WP3 jointly with Dr. Dan Chisholm from the WHO. WP3 is conducting research on the resource inputs needed to scale-up a defined set of mental health services; assess the economic impact of inadequate mental health service access, as well as the economic consequences of improved access to appropriate care; and identify sustainable health financing strategies for scaled-up delivery of mental health services in participant countries.
For more information about the EMERALD project, please visit: https://www.centreforglobalmentalhealth.org/emerald-emerging-mental-health-systems-in-low-and-middle-income-countries