Copyright © War Trauma Foundation. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. Bridging the gap in mental health and psychosocial services in low resource settings: a case study in Sudan Shahla Eltayeb, Yvonne Sliep & Orso Muneghina Sudan has endured the longest civil war in Africa, with ongoing con£ict since 1983. As a result, it has one of the largest internally displaced populations on the continent.The gap in care for mental health in Sudan islarge, therefore, most ofthe peoplea¡ected do not have access to the treatment they need (World Helath Organization, 2009). Mental health facili- ties in current day Sudan are few and concentrated in urban centres, where they are di⁄cult to access and lack adequately trained professionals who are, in particular, lacking training for trauma related disorders. The objectives of this intervention were to bridge the gap in mental health psychosocial sup- port services in Sudan by setting up a community based, nongovernmental trauma mental health centre providing free mental health services, in addition to mental health professional capacity building.This paperaddressesdi⁄culties and oppor- tunities in providing mental health and psychosocial support in country torn by warand political embargo. Furthermore, it includes how to incorporate cultural adaption encompassing Afro/Arab cultures with a focus on gender and political sensitive approaches in introducing psychosocial support and specialised trauma services. Keywords: capacity building, mental health and psychosocial support, narrative theatre, trauma counselling, war a¡ected communities Introduction Background and context Mental disorders are a source of substantial disability worldwide, with this burden likely to be greater in countries a¡ected by mass con£ict (World Health Organization (WHO), 2013). Depression alone accounts for 4.3% of the global burden of disease and is among the largest single cause of dis- ability worldwide (11% of all years lived with disability globally), particularly for women. The economic consequences of these health losses are equally large; a recent study esti- mated that the cumulative global impact of mental disorders in terms of lost economic output will amount to US$ 16.3 million between 2011 and 2030 (WHO, 2013). Resources and skills in developing countries are limited, requiring careful consideration in determining service priorities, while direct clinical services can only reach a small percentage of the population (Mannan et al., 2013). Alternatively, community based mental health services can provide accessi- ble, equitable and e¡ective care at low costs, thereby avoiding the harm created by insti- tutionalising patients in large mental hospi- tals (Patel et al., 2016; Qureshi, Al-Habeeb, & Koenig, 2013). Health systems worldwide have not yet ade- quately responded to the burden of mental disorders, therefore, the gap between the need for treatment and its provision is large all over the world. Between 76% and 85% of people with severe mental disorders receive no treatment for their disorders in low or middle income countries, and further compounding problems are the poor quality of care and stigma for those receiving treat- ment (Ali, & Agyapong, 2016; WHO, 2013). This gap in mental health provision and quality of care is even worse in Sudan whereby the country has experienced dec- ades of internal con£ict that makes it di⁄cult Field report Eltayeb et al. 151