Our continuing engagement efforts will focus on these areas. We had multiple pre-engagement meetings and education sessions with officials to overcome these issues and gain stakeholder support.Ĭommunity and stakeholder buy-in: Although the project has been well received by the primary care teams, clients and their family members of clients as well as some traditional rulers, there remain challenges engaging local faith healers (who see a lot of people with MNS conditions before they access other services), local proprietary patent medicine vendors and traditional healers. Stigma and negative attitudes towards mental health conditions and epilepsy: Initially getting buy-in from political leaders and government officials was challenging due to stigma and negative attitudes to mental health conditions. We had to build in extra time to train the teams on the use of these instruments. Training the teams on using standardized tools, materials and procedures: A lot of commonly used screening instruments were unfamiliar to the trainees. Finally, the project incorporates a Drug Revolving Fund to ensure a stable supply of effective, unadulterated medications at or below market value.įunding for mobile Internet access at the community centers and for the primary care teams: Due to limited funding, we were unable to rollout the mobile telemedicine app to all the clinics where we trained staff. Under this model, most people with mild to moderate symptoms are seen in the community by trained non-specialists while people with more severe symptoms are referred to specialists with clear framework for referral, consultation and follow up support.

We plan to support client-led, self-help groups based in the communities and supported by the primary care teams by utilizing a stepped-care approach to delivery, which is collaborative and task-sharing in nature. The community engagement component of the HAPPINESS intervention promotes recovery, empowerment, advocacy and human rights.

Utilization of mid-level, non-specialist providers.

Early identification of MNS conditions leading to less intensive and expensive care.

The project generates several avenues for potential cost savings, including: It is led by community health workers and primary care doctors making it easily accessible, potentially scalable and cost-effective. The project is anchored in the community.

It is built to function even when internet is patchy or non-existent, making it particularly useful in low-resource settings where internet availability is not always guaranteed. The platform is fully functional, proprietary, mobile and video-enabled.

The HAPPINESS Project uses mobile technology to deliver continued medical education, drawing upon a mobile telemedicine platform and electronic health records (EHR) for clinical evaluation, documentation, prescription and connection to specialist care.

The happiness project com