Active Mental Health Public Health & Healthcare

Strengthening Mental Health Science II

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

The World Health Organization is building a suite of open-access mental health tools to replace expensive, restricted diagnostic instruments that most countries cannot afford. This matters because the WHO’s ability to track and improve global mental health is hamstrung by two basic gaps: there is no freely available diagnostic interview aligned with the latest ICD-11 classification, and most countries collect no data on who receives mental health services, what those services cost, or whether they work. Without that information, national mental health plans are built on guesswork, and advocacy for better care lacks the numbers needed to sway politicians. If the project succeeds, a community provider-delivered family intervention for psychosis will offer an alternative to the common practice of medicating people without psychosocial support—a major barrier to recovery in low-resource settings. A systematic process for involving people with lived experience in WHO technical products could shift how the organisation develops all its mental health guidance. The advocacy strategy aims to raise mental health higher on political agendas worldwide.

View original technical description
WHO proposes to strengthen mental health science relevant to its mission by developing: (1) A Flexible Diagnostic Interview tool (FLII-11) for ICD-11. Existing tools are restricted-access or prohibitively expensive to implement. FLII-11 will meet the need for an open-access instrument to assess ICD-11 mental disorders. (2) Tools to measure mental health service uptake, coverage and quality. Most countries do not collect this information, hampering development of national mental health plans and policies and compromising efforts to track global mental health objectives and targets. Measurement is key to advocacy efforts to improve care and raise mental health on political agendas. (3) A community provider-delivered family intervention for people with psychosis and other severe mental health conditions. In many countries, lack of psychosocial interventions often leads to people being medicated without psychosocial support, which is a barrier to their recovery. A non- specialist intervention delivered by community providers will expand available care options. (4) A WHO mental health advocacy / communications strategy to inform a proactive approach to mental health advocacy by WHO headquarters (5) A process to systematically involve people with lived experience in the development of WHO technical products. This will strengthen its mental health work across the board.

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Researchers

Mark van Ommeren (EPMC Awardee)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Strengthening Mental Health Science III
Mental Health Access Initiative: Expanding global access to psychotropic medication for severe mental disorders
Understanding mental health
Developing feasible metrics for tracking mental health policy implementation
Personalised care in mental health

Original classification

Discretionary Award

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