Policy Impact

PRIME evidence is currently being used in over 80 districts in PRIME countries and we have good evidence that PRIME research has had an impact on policy in all five study countries. One such an example is the PRIME District Mental Healthcare Plan being used to inform the current revision of the 2012 Ethiopian Mental Health Strategy and the Federal Ministry of Health plan to scale up mental health care to every district by 2020.

Similarly, the PRIME South Africa district mental health care plan informed the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district mental health care plan and is being used to provide a template for district mental health care plans in two other districts.

In Uganda, the Ministry of Health has used the district level mental health care plan to guide implementation and scale up of the PRIME in a number of districts. This will be dependent on the acquisition of funding.

One example of PRIME’s success in India is the scale up of mental health services using the PRIME India model and the establishment of Mann Kaksha (mental health care consultation rooms) in all 51 district hospitals of the Madhya Pradesh state.

In Nepal, we used the PRIME work in Nepal to advocate for psychotropic medications for the free drugs list; develop a national level mental health curriculum for health workers; and provide input into the revision of the national mental health policy (currently underway).

Internationally, we have also influenced the development of policy. PRIME members have made significant contributions to the Fundamental SDG initiative, which advocated for the inclusion of mental health in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Whether through this advocacy work, or as part of other initiatives, mental health and substance abuse was subsequently included in the SDGs (SDG3). PRIME and PRIME work have also been cited in recent international documents such as the WHO global strategy on people-centered and integrated health services: interim report.