As of December 2015, BasicNeeds has reached 653,300 people through the delivery of the BasicNeeds Model, of which 127,349 are people living with mental illness and epilepsy, 101,879 are carers and 424,072 are family members.
Impact was achieved at different levels, some key headlines:
Affected individuals
Overall there was improvement against baseline in the number of affected individuals who:
- Gained access to treatment (80% of participants from 58% at baseline)
- Reported reduction to their symptoms (0% to 78%)
- Participated in community groups (4% to 39%)
- Able to work (52% to 80%)
Practice
The impact of the BasicNeeds Model in current operational countries has penetrated into the delivery of government mental health services through integration into primary health care. Key areas of BasicNeeds’ impact:
- Increased delivery of services
During 2015, 293 outreach clinics and camps were conducted by BasicNeeds’ partners. 72 treatment services including psychiatric consultations, diagnosis and medication prescriptions were facilitated and 124 treatment services provided in government-run primary health facilities.
- Increased availability of medicines
Under BasicNeeds programmes, medicines are either free or subsidised, thereby bringing down the cost of treatment per month for affected persons from an average of US$71 (£51) before joining the programme to US$32 (£23). The cost of treatment primarily comprises expenses on travel and food to reach the treatment point.
- Leveraging of other resources
BasicNeeds partners leveraged support from their governments in the form of human resources for mental health camps, premises for running outreach clinics, training or self-help group meetings.
- Increased community involvement
479 self-help groups were set up in 2015 which had a membership of 25,806 affected people and carers.
The community based evidence generated by programmes and partners has enabled BasicNeeds to challenge existing systems, advocate for improvements and lead change nationally and globally.