Title of the journal: Health professionals’ level of knowledge regarding integrating mental health services with Human immunodeficiency services at primary health care

Background Patients with Human immunodeficiency virus are more likely to experience mental health problems, which has an adverse effect on how well they respond to highly active antiretroviral treatment. Increased mental health problems that are not treated have caused increased prevalence of mental health problems, increased prevalence of medical conditions and very poor economy but mental health services are lacking . Aim The aim of the study was to describe health professionals’ level of knowledge regarding integration of mental health services into Human immunodeficiency virus services at primary health care. Setting The study was conducted in five primary health cares in Maseru district, Lesotho. Methods This study employed mixed methods, and made use of quantitative (self-administered questionnaire) and qualitative (in-depth interviews). Results 69.7% of respondents reported that they do not have knowledge to manage mental health problems in people living with Human immunodeficiency virus. The qualitative findings further showed that majority of health professionals did not have enough knowledge to identify signs and symptoms of mental health problems in people living with Human immunodeficiency virus, no adequate knowledge to diagnose and manage all people presenting with mental health problems and also living with Human immunodeficiency virus. To account for possible factors, comparisons were made using a Chi-square statistical test for the categorical data and a t-test/Wilcoxon rank-sum test for the numeric data. All analyses were performed using SPSS version 26, and a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Conclusion Health professionals were not providing mental health services in people presenting with mental health problems and Human immunodeficiency virus mainly because of lack of knowledge to identify signs and symptoms, diagnose and manage people presenting with mental health problems in people living with Human immunodeficiency virus. Contribution The study confirmed lack of knowledge regarding mental health in health professionals and therefore there is an urgent need to act on this matter as this large treatment gap cause so many complications.