Integrating mental health into primary care in Africa: the case of Equatorial Guinea

The Spanish Cooperation, through the nongovernmental organisation Sanitary Religious Federation and the financing of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation conducted an assessment of the mental health care system in Equatorial Guinea in 2009. There was no specific mental health policy in place, and no formalised mental health care system. A National Mental Health Policy has recently been approved, and an implementation plan was made by the government and nongovernmental organisations. The plan focuses on integration of mental health into primary care, through capacity building and sensitisation. The implementation is still in the initial phase, and the scaling up process is expected to be slow.