A study by the George Institute for Global Health found that 9,900 people across Andhra Pradesh and Haryana showed reduced anxiety and depression while receiving treatment under India’s rural mental health programme.
The program also led to a remarkable shift in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour of people related to mental health, helping to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.
Mental health remains a critical global challenge, with nearly 150 million people in India requiring treatment, but only a fraction receive adequate care. The shortage of mental health professionals is especially severe in rural areas, where trained health workers are scarce.
India’s Systematic Medical Appraisal, Referral, and Treatment (SMART) Mental Health Program was developed to address this gap by training village health workers regarding basic mental health care and using innovative methods of service delivery.
The study was conducted on 1,70,000 adult respondents across West Godavari, Faridabad, and Palwal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Haryana including 9,900 participants over a year. Research implemented two key strategies: a community campaign to reduce mental health stigma and a digital healthcare initiative for those at high risk of mental disorders.
As a result, there was there was a significant reduction in depression risk among those involved in the intervention over one year. Cure rates went higher in the intervention group, with 75 percent achieving full recovery, compared to just 50 percent in the control group.
Following the campaign, there was a shift in people’s understanding of mental health. Although significant behavioral changes related to mental health were not observed at the one-year mark, positive effects were noted as early as three months into the program.
Addressing the role of digital tools in health care, Prof David Peiris, chief scientist at The George Institute, stated, “This study shows that community health workers, supported by doctors and simple digital tools, can provide high quality, effective health care. The strategy is simple, safe, clinically effective and can reach large numbers of people missing out on mental health care worldwide.”
