After the Mental Health Act 846 passed in 2012, Ghana Health Service (GHS) shifted its mental health programming from facility-based to a more integrated community-based approach. GHS set up new structures, with regional, district, and facility-level mental health coordinators. But in the Upper West Region’s under resourced rural districts, the mental health coordinators lack access to reliable training and support.

Too often, mental health education is left to community health workers who have no formal mental health training. Although GHS established self-help groups, only about 30 groups are active in the region, which has a population of over 900,000 people.

Amplio is working with GHS and UNICEF to improve access to mental health education in the Upper West Region, as part of an ongoing public health initiative. In 2019, we partnered on a Talking Book pilot at five Community-based Health and Planning Service (CHPS) compounds. Community health nurses and volunteers used the Amplio Talking Book audio device to deliver quality health messages in various local languages. The project scaled in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it continues to expand.

With the Talking Book’s built-in speaker, families and groups can listen and learn together. At the CHPS compounds, nurses use Talking Books to engage and inform community members during antenatal care visits and child welfare clinics. Families can listen while they’re waiting to be seen. Nurses also play Talking Book messages when they meet with patients. To reach even more people, community health volunteers use Talking Books to conduct household visits and listening groups.

“When I speak to people alone, they don’t take me seriously,” said Anthony Kantie, a community volunteer. “But since I’ve had the Talking Book, they’re always interested in what the device is saying. It has made my work much easier.”

Read the full article about mental health education in Ghana by Erin Inclan at Global Washington.