Prevention for common mental disorders in low-resource settings

Abstract

Only a limited research evidence is available from low- and middle-income countries for various preventive strategies for anxiety and mood disorders. In the context of these low-resource settings, the models of primary and secondary prevention have to be adapted to the available resources and sociocultural context. The thrust of preventive activities for common mental disorders, as per emerging evidence and expert consensus, may be placed on information and awareness campaigns, workplace prevention, task shifting to community health workers (CHWs), multi-sectoral collaborations with broad-based preventive approach, targeting multiple risk factors, identifying unique protective factors with cultural relevance, and use of modern technology and smart tools for cost-effective solutions with a wider reach. In the future research, the scalability aspects, cost-effectiveness evaluation, and methodological rigor as well as cultural acceptability should be important considerations.

Keywords

• Anxiety
• depression
• low-resource settings
• prevention