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Accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Challenges, Opportunities, and Lessons from Western Kenya

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Innovations in Global Mental Health

Abstract

Recent updates to the World Mental Health Organization (WHO) goals have emphasized child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) prevention and intervention across the globe. This chapter aims to address barriers faced during implementation of CAMH services in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which include challenges to scaling up mental health interventions, the presence of stigma, and limited human resources. An overview of the current prevalence of psychiatric disorders and of services provided to children and adolescents within the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, Kenya, will offer specific detail surrounding the benefits and challenges faced thus far in service provision. Models for current service delivery will also be discussed, including task-sharing, integration of CAMH services into primary care, and family-based interventions. Future directions for this developing field will be suggested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alpert Medical School of Brown University/Bradley Hospital, Providence, RI, USA

    Caley Arzamarski, Jennifer Hellmuth & Anne S. Walters

  2. Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital, East Providence, RI, USA

    Abby deSteiguer

  3. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya

    Felicita Omari

Authors
  1. Caley Arzamarski
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  2. Abby deSteiguer
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  3. Felicita Omari
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  4. Jennifer Hellmuth
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  5. Anne S. Walters
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Correspondence to Abby deSteiguer .

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, Center for Health, Culture and Society, George Washington University, Nashville, Washington, TN, USA

    Samuel O. Okpaku

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Arzamarski, C., deSteiguer, A., Omari, F., Hellmuth, J., Walters, A.S. (2021). Accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. In: Okpaku, S.O. (eds) Innovations in Global Mental Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70134-9_136-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70134-9_136-1

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