On March 21, 2025, the Reducing Stigma among Healthcare Providers (RESHAPE) study held a dissemination event in Pokhara Metropolitan City, Gandaki Province, Nepal, to share initial findings with key mental health stakeholders. The RESHAPE study is a cluster randomized trial looking at addressing health worker’s stigma in primary health settings to improve quality of care in collaboration with People With Lived Experience of mental health conditions (PWLE). The study was implemented in three waves by training primary health workers across 78 health facilities at Syangja, Parbat/Kaski district and Pokhara metropolitan city of Western Nepal. This event marked the completion of all field activities for the third and final wave.
Participants included public health officers, the provincial mental health focal person, government officials, public health inspectors, primary health care workers, non-profit staff, collaborators, and individuals with lived experience of mental health conditions. The event started with trained health workers and PWLE involved in the study sharing their perspectives on providing and receiving mental health care, highlighting the importance of sustainable community support and economic opportunities for those in recovery.
Then Dr Kamal Gautam, Executive Director of TPO Nepal, presented the study’s preliminary findings and Mani Neupane, Implementation Coordinator of RESHAPE discussed implementation challenges and enablers, and based on the study provided recommendations to government and non-government representatives to promote a comprehensive approach to community-based mental health care. A key challenge identified was the shortage of human resources in health facilities and poor coordination between local and provincial governments, resulting in resource constraints.
The event concluded with an active discussion. Government stakeholders shared ongoing initiatives, including mental health gap action program (mhGAP) training for health workers, quantification workshops for medication and logistics, and the development of mental health strategies at the local government level.
