An ad hoc committee will plan and host a workshop series, inviting key stakeholders to examine country specific opportunities to improve and develop sustainable access to mental health care and ensure that the right patients get the right care and treatment at the right time in the right setting. The workshop series will include two public workshops, one in Ghana and one in Kenya. Each workshop will include participants from key stakeholder groups representing components of the health system including government, health professionals and providers (public- and private-sector), industry, non-government organizations, and others. Specifically, each workshop will include focused discussions on the following four topic areas:

-- The elements of a mental health care system

• Consider the components of a mental health care system that would be needed to provide access to mental health care (diagnosis, treatment, access to medicines, and continuing care) in both rural and urban environments.
• Explore how existing healthcare infrastructure and available resources can be leveraged to enable sustainable access to mental health care.
• Consider mechanisms for how mental health care could be integrated or coordinated with care for co- and multiple morbidities.
• Articulate the core elements of a near- and long-term plan that would be necessary to develop sustainable mental health services, including what could be included in a demonstration project.

-- Engagement of key stakeholders

• Consider the role of governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, home health care, faith-based organizations, and traditional medicine in the establishment of an integrated mental health care model.
• Examine current policy, funding, and payment practices for each type of stakeholder, including identifying barriers to the development of a sustainable mental health care system.
• Consider how non-health sectors, e.g. telecommunications, energy, and others could serve to strengthen the health care infrastructure.

-- Access to medicines

• Identify critical barriers to the delivery, selection, and prescription of medicines.
• Examine successful activities that could be implemented in Ghana and Kenya to increase access to medicines, including characteristics of medicines that may improve patient adherence (e.g. modes of delivery).

-- Stigma

• Consider the impact of stigma on the seeking and provision of care and on mental health outcomes and discuss how the mental health care system could be designed with concerns about stigma in mind.
• Examine components of previous or existing anti-stigma campaigns that could be applied in Ghana and Kenya.

The committee will develop the agenda for the workshop sessions, select and invite speakers and discussants, and moderate the discussions. A single individually authored workshop summary of the presentations and discussions at the workshops will be prepared by a designated rapporteur and issued in accordance with institutional policies and procedures.