From the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School (A.E.B., A.K.), and the Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital (A.E.B.) — both in Boston; and the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (A.K.). Address reprint requests to Dr. Kleinman at the Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, William James Hall, 33 Kirkland St...

Research-generated information about mental disorders is crucial in order to establish the health needs in a given setting, to propose culturally apt and cost-effective individual and collective interventions, to investigate their implementation, and to explore the obstacles that prevent recommended strategies from being implemented. Yet the capacity to undertake such research in low- and middl...

The first World Health Organization's global action plan for mental health recognizes the importance of mental health promotion and prevention of mental disorders, through the inclusion of one of four objectives focused on this crucial area of research and practice. This paper aims to provide an 'aerial view' of the field of mental health promotion and prevention of mental disorders with a focu...

Psychiatric disorders are among the leading cause of disability worldwide, yet fewer than 25 % of affected individuals are estimated to have access to treatment. In many low-income settings, it is estimated that less than 10 % of affected individuals are able to access basic mental health care and, even when they do, it is often below minimum ethical and clinical standards [1]. The discipline o...

Global health networks—webs of individuals and organizations linked by a shared concern for a particular condition—have proliferated over the past quarter century. In a recent editorial in this journal, I presented evidence that their effectiveness in addressing four challenges—problem definition, positioning, coalitionbuilding and governance—shapes their ability to influence policy. The editor...

• World Economic Forum Report, which made a stronger case for the economic burden of noncommunicable disorders (NCDs), including mental health. It is estimated that over the next 20 years, NCDs will costs more than 30 trillion dollars, with mental disorders contributing an additional 16 trillion dollars (Bloom et al. 2011). • In 2011, the NIMH made the first RFA for the Collaborative Hubs for I...

1 Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, 2 Sangath, Goa, India, 3 Centre for Mental Health, Public Health Foundation of India, India, 4 Program in Global Mental Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, United States of America, 5 New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, New York, United States of America, 6 Simon Fr...

1 Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, 2 Sangath, Goa, India, 3 Centre for Mental Health, Public Health Foundation of India, India, 4 Program in Global Mental Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, United States of America, 5 New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, New York, United States of America, 6 Simon Fr...

A concrete indicator of a government's commitment to mental health services is the amount of financial resources it allocates. To encourage the government to increase mental health funding, it would require additional research and dissemination findings on the economic consequences of mental health disorders, cost-effectiveness benefits of alternatives treatment, and alternative methods of fina...

BACKGROUND The tenure of the Millennium Development Goals formally expires in 2015 and will be replaced with a new development agenda. The MDGs did not include goals or targets for mental health. Despite gathering momentum during the last 15 years, mental health has not enjoyed the same pace of progress as the sectors explicitly mentioned within the MDGs. This article outlines the evidence indi...