Overview of the mental health system in Mozambique: Addressing the treatment gap with a task-shifting strategy in primary care
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Mozambique has gradually changed its action on mental health (MH) from an asylum-centric care with long-term hospitalization to an innovative approach to community and primary care. OBJECTIVE: To collect essential information on Mozambique's MH system for decision making, to improve quality of services delivered, update MH Strategy and Action Plan. METHOD: The study used the WHO-AIMS to assess MH systems including policy and legislation, organization of services, MH in primary care, human resources, public education and link with other sectors, monitoring and research. A comparative analysis was conducted to present the evolution of relevant data from 2010 to 2014. RESULTS: There are two psychiatric hospitals in the country and beds in general hospitals. In the period, the number of beds in general hospitals remained stable (203), and the beds in psychiatric hospitals increased from 173 to 298. Mental health outpatient facilities have increased from 83 to 152. The number of psychiatrists (9 in 2010, and 10 in 2014) remained very low, with a significant increase in the number of psychologists (56-109) and occupational therapists (2-23). The number of Psychiatric Technicians has increased from 66 in 2010, to 241 in 2014. This increase allowed the mental health network to expand from 60 to 135 Districts, meaning an increase of coverage from 44 to 100 % of the country districts. CONCLUSION: The task-shifting strategy focused on services delivered in primary care by psychiatric technicians, mid-level professionals, allowed the expansion of mental health services for all the country districts and the reduction of treatment gap in Mozambique.
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Psychiatric technicians receive 30 months of training to provide mental health services, including prescribing psychotropic medications.
“PTs receive 30-months of training to provide mental health services, including the prescription of psychotropic medications (dos Santos et al., 2016).”
From Mobile technology and task shifting to improve access to alcohol treatment services in Mozambique (2022) · cites this paper as dos Santos et al., 2016
Mozambique has a critical and persistent shortage of mental health specialists, with only 18 psychiatrists and 109 psychologists for a population of 29 million.
“Faced with a critical shortage of mental health specialists in Mozambique that persists to date – currently there are still only 18 psychiatrists and 109 psychologists for a population of 29 million (dos Santos et al., 2016; Wainberg et al., 2020)– they created a mid-level professional category, psychiatric technicians (PTs).”
From Mobile technology and task shifting to improve access to alcohol treatment services in Mozambique (2022) · cites this paper as dos Santos et al., 2016
From 2010 to 2014, the number of psychiatric technicians grew from 66 to 241, allowing Mozambique to increase mental health coverage from 60 districts (44%) to all 135 districts (100%).
“From 2010 to 2014, the number of PTs grew from 66 to 241 allowing Mozambique to increase coverage from 60 (44%) to all 135 (100%) districts in the country (dos Santos et al., 2016).”
From Mobile technology and task shifting to improve access to alcohol treatment services in Mozambique (2022) · cites this paper as dos Santos et al., 2016
Resources and infrastructure to treat unhealthy alcohol use in Mozambique are limited, with 75-90% of people with behavioral health issues receiving no care due to provider scarcity and geographic distribution.
“However, resources and infrastructure to treat UAU in Mozambique are limited; 75–90% of people with behavioral health issues receive no care because of provider scarcity and geographic distribution (Demyttenaere et al., 2004; dos Santos et al., 2016; Dua et al., 2011).”
From Mobile technology and task shifting to improve access to alcohol treatment services in Mozambique (2022) · cites this paper as dos Santos et al., 2016
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Self-citation
- Authors
- dos Santos, P. F., Wainberg, M. L., Caldas-de-Almeida, J. M., Saraceno, B., & Mari, J. D. J.
- Affiliations
- New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
- Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health (PT)
- Universidade Federal de São Paulo (BR)
- Venue
- International Journal of Mental Health Systems
- Published
- 2016-01-04
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-1
- ISSN
- 1752-4458 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4700645
- OpenAlex
- W2199014815
- Cited by
- 216
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 37.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Mental Health Systems (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- World Health Organization
- National Institute of Mental Health (D43TW009675)
- Ministry of Health of Mozambique
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychiatric care and mental health services
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices
- Keywords
- mental health system, treatment gap, task shifting, primary care, psychiatric technicians, mental health professionals, psychiatric hospital beds, mental health policy, Mozambique
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