Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit (Meiru) says its new mental health project is a step toward integrating mental health into Malawi’s public health priorities.
The project, dubbed Leveraging Existing Datasets to Understand Mental Health Disorders in Rural and Urban
Malawi, was launched in Lilongwe on Thursday and is being supported through the prestigious Mental Health Data Prize Africa 2024 which is administered by the Africa Population and Health Research Centre in partnership with the Wellcome Trust.
Speaking during the launch, Meiru director Professor Mia Crampin said the initiative aims to address the country’s growing mental health crisis by analysing existing datasets to map depression, anxiety and psychosis.
“As we expanded into both Karonga and Area 25 in Lilongwe, community members increasingly voiced concerns related to mental health. These issues were often invisible and underserved, but are now gaining the attention they urgently deserve,” he said.
Mental Health Users and Carers Association chairperson Simon Thom said for a long time, mental health has been sidelined, but now it is gaining prominence.
“The data being collected allows us to see how many people are affected and this will help policymakers make better plans,” he said.
With a team of more than 250 staff and partnerships with the Ministry of Health, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Glasgow, Meiru continues to lead the way in population-level research and public health innovation.
