**2. Cues and guidelines from the National Development Plan 2030**

The South African National Development Plan (NDP) is the blueprint of how the South African government plans to improve the quality of services to achieve transformation that will improve the lives of the majority of people who were previously marginalized [7]. The NDP further identifies the need for a functional monitoring process as the basis of offering and improving the envisaged outcomes because without monitoring, it is not possible to determine the progress made towards any one goal. Chapter 10 of the National Development Plan acknowledges the promotion of health as a key to speed up transformation. The NDP further proposes to address a variety of social determinants of health, including mental health and substance abuse trends. The NDP further acknowledges the importance of considering the needs of the community, as well as embracing and elevating the role of society in addressing community needs. The scourge of mental disorders fits the category of community needs, and addressing them is an example of using the NDP to guide government responses to service delivery. The NDP further promotes the systematic use of data incorporating community health, prevention and environmental concerns, which is a focus area of the Primary health Care programme.

*The Need to Strengthen Primary Health Care Services to Improve Mental Health Care Services… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99781*
