Health

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Bridging treatment gaps in perinatal depression by training

ASHA workers through digital modules

Following pages (122–123):

Modelling healthy feeding practices and responsive caregiving at home through

trained counsellors

public health trials, thus respected for their

evidence, and scalable across similar contexts.

‘Our most important collaboration is with

the community-based providers. rough

our ‘task-sharing’ approach, we aim to

empower them in providing frontline mental

healthcare. is approach is now becoming

recognized as an approach to increase the

access to quality mental healthcare across the

whole world,’ explains Prof. Patel.

Sangath’s ‘Mann Kaksha’ model co-

developed with the Madhya Pradesh health

system was scaled to the whole state by the

state government. Its work is represented

in the National Mental Health Policy of

India and the National Health Systems

Resource Centre guidelines. Its innovative

interventions are being adopted and adapted

in several countries, including Nepal, Canada,

Sri Lanka, Uganda, the UK and the USA.

Sangath reaches out to build the capacity

of all stakeholders – healthcare professionals,

lay counsellors, educators, mental health

professionals, youth advocates, and caregivers.

As a testament to Sangath’s efforts, frontline

health workers have reported personal

transformation aſter being trained on mental

health, not to mention improvement in the health

of community members under their watch.

HCLTech Grant Project Title:

EMPOWER:

Building India’s Perinatal Mental Health

Workforce

Beneficiaries:

750 ASHA workers, 750

anganwadi workers, 300 community health

officers, 90 district health officials, 71345

pregnant women, 25000 parents of children

aged 0-3 years

Location:

750 villages in 3 districts of

Madhya Pradesh