eMAMA – Developing Post Graduate Training Programme for MaternalMental Health in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Developing expertise in maternal mental health in Africa

Project duration

1.9.2023. – 31.8.2026

Source of funding

Erasmus+ Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education

Total funding

888 876 €

Worldwide 10‐15% of pregnant mothers suffer from a mental disorder, primarily depression. Poor health infrastructure and minimal health care resources with less than 1% of the health budget allocated to mental health worsen the mental health gap in low and middle-income countries. This leads inevitably to poor or non-existent access to care. Better education and knowledge on mental health issues have been shown to improve economic prosperity in life. Still, Sub Saharan African (SSA) countries lack the well-educated healthcare professionals to deal with these issues. WHO has firmly stated an urgent need to increase LMIC workforces by an estimated 239 000 full-time staff (e.g. nurses, midwives) to bridge the mental health gap. Malawi, Namibia and Zambia have an urgent demand for higher education and screening and treatment protocols of maternal mental disorders in primary care settings.

To respond to this need, the eMAMA project will build capacity and competencies on maternal mental health in SSA. The action research-based methodology of the eMAMA project will be carried out over 36 months. It will involve six (6) work packages (WPs) targeting HEIs, working life and policymakers through four (4) specific objectives: 1) exploring Maternal Mental Health Best Practices, 2) developing Post Graduate Training Programme (30 ECTS), 3) developing an eMAMA mobile application and 4) To ensure project visibility, result’s exploitation and wide impact through eMAMA stakeholders. The eMAMA will reform degree programmes on maternal mental health and implement innovation pedagogy and the best practice guidelines in SSA. A number of healthcare professionals (n = 300) participating in the piloting and 30 NGOs with nine participating universities will collaborate during the project lifetime. The project enforces international collaboration, contacts and communication at the policy level and sharing experience and expertise across the EU and SSA.