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Brain Gain in Uganda: A Case Study of Peer Working as an Adjunct to Statutory Mental Health Care in a Low-Income Country

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The Palgrave Handbook of Sociocultural Perspectives on Global Mental Health

Abstract

This chapter makes the case for involving people with lived experience of mental health problems in the delivery of statutory mental health services within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Specifically, the chapter reflects on Brain Gain, a collaboration between the Butabika-East London Link (BELL), a health partnership between Butabika Hospital, Uganda, East London NHS Foundation Trust, UK (ELFT) and Heartsounds Uganda (HSU), a service user-led community-based organization in Kampala). Funded by UKAid and the Tropical Health and Education Trust, Brain Gain lasted two years and piloted a formal, community-based Peer Support Worker (PSW) service for service users of Butabika Hospital who lived in Kampala. PSWs provided psychosocial support to service users at their homes, after their discharge from hospital. Given limited human resources, the Global Mental Health movement has advocated for task shifting from formally trained mental health professionals. This chapter argues that service users are well suited to meet this demand, discusses practical issues that arose and highlights gains that were achieved.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘Trusts’ in the UK context are divisions of the National Health Service that provide health care to a specified geographical area or in a particular medical speciality.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Primary Care, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Cerdic Hall

  2. East London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    David Baillie

  3. Ministry of Health, Kampala, Uganda

    David Basangwa

  4. Heartsounds Mental Health Champions, Kampala, Uganda

    Joseph Atukunda

Authors
  1. Cerdic Hall
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  2. David Baillie
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  3. David Basangwa
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  4. Joseph Atukunda
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Health and Society University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Ross G. White

  2. School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Sumeet Jain

  3. Department of Social Work and Social Care, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

    David M.R. Orr

  4. CERMES3, Paris, France

    Ursula M. Read

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Hall, C., Baillie, D., Basangwa, D., Atukunda, J. (2017). Brain Gain in Uganda: A Case Study of Peer Working as an Adjunct to Statutory Mental Health Care in a Low-Income Country. In: White, R., Jain, S., Orr, D., Read, U. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sociocultural Perspectives on Global Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39510-8_30

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