Think­ing glob­ally to improve men­tal health: NIH announces inter­na­tional research ini­tia­tive (press release):

- “The Grand Chal­lenges in Global Men­tal Health Ini­tia­tive, led by the National Insti­tutes of Health and the Global Alliance for Chronic Dis­eases, has iden­ti­fied the top 40 bar­ri­ers to bet­ter men­tal health around the world. Sim­i­lar to past grand chal­lenges, which focused on infec­tious dis­eases and chronic, non­com­mu­ni­ca­ble dis­eases, this ini­tia­tive seeks to build a com­mu­nity of fun­ders ded­i­cated to sup­port­ing research that will sig­nif­i­cantly improve the lives of peo­ple liv­ing with MNS dis­or­ders within the next 10 years.“
– “Par­tic­i­pat­ing in global men­tal health research is an enor­mous oppor­tu­nity, a means to accel­er­ate advances in men­tal health care for the diverse U.S. pop­u­la­tion, as well as an exten­sion of our vision of a world where men­tal ill­nesses are pre­vented and cured,” said Thomas R. Insel, M.D., direc­tor of the National Insti­tute of Men­tal Health (NIMH), the NIH insti­tute head­ing this effort. Accord­ing to the paper’s authors, the dis­or­ders tar­geted by the Grand Chal­lenges in Global Men­tal Health—for exam­ple, schiz­o­phre­nia, depres­sion, epilepsy, demen­tia, and alco­hol dependence—collectively account for more years of life lost to poor health, dis­abil­ity, or early death than either car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease or cancer.”

We will track this ini­tia­tive and announce find­ings when pub­lished. To learn more:

• Announce­ment: Think­ing glob­ally to improve men­tal health: NIH announces inter­na­tional research initiative
• Paper: Com­ment in Nature (opens PDF)
• Web­site: Grand Chal­lenges in Global Men­tal Health

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