AFrica Focus on Intervention Research for Mental health (AFFIRM)

描述(由申请者提供)：总体目标是建立一个研究和能力发展中心，以改进撒哈拉以南非洲精神障碍干预措施的成本效益。越来越多的国际共识认为，在低收入和中等收入国家(LMIC)需要一种任务转移办法，即由普通卫生工作者通过常规卫生保健提供系统提供低成本干预措施，并由精神卫生专家监督。我们建议在南非、加纳、乌干达、津巴布韦、马拉维和埃塞俄比亚5个非洲国家建立非洲精神卫生干预研究计划，具体目标如下：1)研究缩小撒哈拉以南非洲精神疾病治疗差距的策略；2)在撒哈拉以南非洲建设个人和机构干预研究的能力；3)在研究人员、非政府组织和政府机构之间建立合作网络，促进将研究知识转化为政策和实践；4)与其他地区NIMH中心合作。该项目的主要创新将是将研究、能力建设和网络发展与改善撒哈拉以南非洲地区提供具有成本效益的精神卫生干预措施的共同目标结合起来。该中心将汇集一系列多学科的研究人员、政策制定者和非政府组织从业人员，并在之前的合作伙伴关系(如MHaPP)的基础上，专注于在低资源的PHC环境下对任务转移的创新模式进行经验测试。我们将通过三个重叠的阶段来实施确认计划。初始阶段(头6个月)将涉及在开普敦大学公共精神卫生中心建立行政核心；为每个研究地点(埃塞俄比亚和南非)制定详细的方案；在所有肯定合作伙伴中进行能力建设需求评估，并与其他区域中心联系。实施阶段在第1至第4年进行，将涉及试验和开展研究、实施能力发展计划和实施共同项目。在第3至第5年进行的最后阶段将是评估和传播。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal is to establish a Hub for research and capacity development to improve the delivery of cost effective interventions for mental disorders in sub-Saharan Africa. There is growing international consensus that a task shifting approach is required in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) in which low cost interventions are delivered by general health workers, supervised by mental health specialists, through routine health care delivery systems. We propose to establish the AFrica Focus on Intervention Research for Mental health (AFFIRM) program, in 5 African countries: South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Ethiopia, with the following four specific aims: 1) To investigate strategies for narrowing the treatment gap for mental disorders in sub-Saharan Africa; 2) To build individual and institutional capacity for intervention research in sub-Saharan Africa; 3) To establish a network of collaboration between researchers, NGOs and government agencies that facilitates the translation of research knowledge into policy and practice; 4) To collaborate with other regional NIMH hubs. The primary innovation of AFFIRM will be that it will integrate research, capacity building and network development with a shared goal of improving the delivery of cost-effective mental health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. The Hub will bring together a range of multi-disciplinary researchers, policy makers and NGO practitioners, and build on previous partnerships, such as the MHaPP, with a focus on empirically testing innovative models of task shifting in low resource PHC settings. We will implement the AFFIRM program through three overlapping phases. The inception phase (1st 6 months) will involve establishing the Administrative core at the Centre for Public Mental Health, University of Cape Town; developing a detailed protocol for each of the research sites (Ethiopia and South Africa); conducting a capacity building needs assessment among all AFFIRM partners and making contact with other regional hubs. The implementation phase, carried out in years 1-4, will involve piloting and conducting the research, implementing the capacity-development plan and carrying out the shared projects. The final stage, conducted in years 3-5 will be evaluation and dissemination.