Global mental health focuses on improving mental health worldwide while addressing health disparities and inequities across cultures and countries.
According to the Global Burden of Disease study, mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are leading drivers of disability around the world and a rapidly growing component of global health loss. While these disorders can persist across the lifespan and are strongly shaped by social and environmental conditions, they remain widely underfunded and undertreated.
Education and Training
Interest in global mental health education has grown with curriculums covering topics such as:
- Cultural competency
- Service delivery in limited resource settings
- Epidemiology in cultural and geographic contexts
- Health systems and policies
- Access to treatment and care
- Ethics and human rights
- Structural determinants of mental health
- Education and supervision of non-specialists
Psychiatric training programs with global mental health curriculums coordinate research and practice opportunities with partnering organizations and/or local communities to cultivate experience with diverse populations. Programs and curriculum examples are available from multiple institutions including:
Academic institutions interested in developing a global mental health curriculum may use the APA Resource Document on Developing a Global Mental Health Curriculum in Psychiatry Residency Programs as a guide.
Other Resources
Relevant Organizations
- Consortium of Universities for Global Health: Organization of over 145 academic institutions and other organizations from around the world engaged in addressing global health challenges.
- Centre for Global Mental Health: Collaboration between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and King's Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre to foster research and training in policy, prevention, treatment and care.
- Global Initiative on Psychiatry: International non-profit foundation supporting the development of mental health care services in developing countries.
- Mental Health Innovation Network: Global community of mental health innovators sharing resources and ideas including resources on mental health policy and advocacy.
- National Institute of Mental Health Center for Global Mental Health Research: U.S. federal agency coordinating efforts to reduce mental health disparities both within and outside of the United States and overseeing research on global mental health, health disparities, and women's mental health.
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development: International organization working with mental health experts and key stakeholders from around the world to benchmark mental health performance.
- United for Global Mental Health: Organization dedicated to catalyzing global mental health by uniting stakeholders and incubating initiatives.
- World Bank: Global partnership dedicated to sustainable solutions supporting efforts to put mental health at the center of global health and development agendas.
- World Federation for Mental Health: International membership organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of mental disorders and mental health advancement.
