COMPARING BRAZILIAN MENTAL HEALTH MATRIX SUPPORT’S AND BRITISH COLLABORATIVE CARE’S EXPERIENCES: TWO PRIMARY MENTAL HEALTH CARE MODELS.

Introduction and Objectives: Primary mental health care has been considered a practice where primary care and mental health should be integrated. This study aimed to compare Brazilian and British primary mental health models in themes such as policies, structure, facilities and human resources. Method: The literature review used mental health, primary care, collaborative care, integrated care, mental health matrix support as key words, particularly after 2000. Material from national reports, documents, interviews with key-persons and technical visits was also included. Results: Brazil, (Middle Income Country) is 35 times bigger than United Kingdom (High Income country) and its population is 3 times bigger than UK. Despite that, their national health systems have similar characteristics such as universality, and the public health based on primary care. Political nationals context underline relevant differences in the design of these models, specially concerning intervention focus: individual, family or communitarian. Besides that, differences concerning size and type of population and the way to organize mental health interventions are different, for instance, Brazil has community health workers in Brazil and UK has case managers. Conclusions: While collaborative care is similar in aspects such as structure and team design, primary mental health care is a technical intervention based in evidence but also strongly influenced by political, social and cultural context which involve crucial primary mental health components such as access and continuity of care.