Crick Lund, BA (Hons), MA, MSocSci (Clinical Psychology), PhD, is Professor and Director of the Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town. He is currently Principal Investigator of the AFrica Focus on Intervention Research for Mental health (AFFIRM), U19 NIMH Collaborative Hub, and CEO of the Programme for Improving Mental health carE (PRIME), a DFID-funded research consortium focusing on the integration of mental health into primary care in five low- and middle-income countries.
Historically, mental health has been neglected on Africa’s health and development policy agenda. Faced with many challenges – including intractable poverty, infectious diseases, maternal and child mortality, and conflict – African political leaders and international development agencies frequently overlook the...