{"title":"“Building back better”: Task shifting is the way forward for Sri Lanka to address maternal mental health in the economic crisis","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.ajp.2024.104234","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Maternal mental health is a global priority. Like other low-and middle-income countries, maternal mental health issues are highly prevalent in Sri Lanka. While the country claims to have achieved a satisfactory level of maternal health care indicators in the Southeast Asian region, maternal mental health care remains ignored. The COVID-19 pandemic followed by the economic crisis of 2022 has worsened the situation in the country by increasing the prevalence of maternal mental health issues and limiting the availability of and capacity of the country to allocate resources for the healthcare provision for maternal mental health issues. Integrating task-shifted, non-specialist based, mental healthcare into the existing maternal healthcare programme is considered a cost-effective approach in addressing maternal mental health. In this article, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of employing task shifting to address maternal mental health issues in Sri Lanka.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8543,"journal":{"name":"Asian journal of psychiatry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876201824003277/pdfft?md5=908c65840530cfd0f25d91dee694165c&pid=1-s2.0-S1876201824003277-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asian journal of psychiatry","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876201824003277","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Maternal mental health is a global priority. Like other low-and middle-income countries, maternal mental health issues are highly prevalent in Sri Lanka. While the country claims to have achieved a satisfactory level of maternal health care indicators in the Southeast Asian region, maternal mental health care remains ignored. The COVID-19 pandemic followed by the economic crisis of 2022 has worsened the situation in the country by increasing the prevalence of maternal mental health issues and limiting the availability of and capacity of the country to allocate resources for the healthcare provision for maternal mental health issues. Integrating task-shifted, non-specialist based, mental healthcare into the existing maternal healthcare programme is considered a cost-effective approach in addressing maternal mental health. In this article, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of employing task shifting to address maternal mental health issues in Sri Lanka.
期刊介绍:
The Asian Journal of Psychiatry serves as a comprehensive resource for psychiatrists, mental health clinicians, neurologists, physicians, mental health students, and policymakers. Its goal is to facilitate the exchange of research findings and clinical practices between Asia and the global community. The journal focuses on psychiatric research relevant to Asia, covering preclinical, clinical, service system, and policy development topics. It also highlights the socio-cultural diversity of the region in relation to mental health.