ABSTRACT
Primary health-care practitioners are trained to recognize common mental health problems in women, to provide first-line treatments for those with mild to moderate problems, and referral to specialist psychiatric care for those with more severe problems. Research about the perinatal mental health of women living in resource-constrained countries has only been conducted more recently, with most studies being published since 2000. This is in part because of competing health priorities, including high rates of maternal deaths from obstetric emergencies, and limited local research resources and capacity. In Africa, the burden of depression and poor maternal mental health most likely relates to women's exposure to multiple depression-related risk factors such as extreme poverty, violence, displacement, migration and the increasing threat of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Ensuring that women in need of perinatal mental health care receive adequate services is a challenge across the globe.
