Global Mental Health: Where We Are and Where We Are Going

Abstract

Purpose of review: To summarize recent findings in global mental health along several domains including socioeconomic determinants, inequities, funding, and inclusion in global mental health research and practice.

Recent findings: Mental illness continues to disproportionately impact vulnerable populations and treatment coverage continues to be low globally. Advances in integrating mental health care and adopting task-shifting are accompanied by implementation challenges. The mental health impact of recent global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geo-political events, and environmental change is likely to persist and require coordinated care approaches for those in need of psychosocial support. Inequities also exist in funding for global mental health and there has been gradual progress in terms of building local capacity for mental health care programs and research. Lastly, there is an increasing effort to include people with lived experiences of mental health in research and policy shaping efforts. The field of global mental health will likely continue to be informed by evidence and perspectives originating increasingly from low- and middle-income countries along with ongoing global events and centering of relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: Global mental health; Inequities in global mental health; Integrated mental health care; Social determinants.

Fig. 1

Summary of recent priority areas in the field of global mental health. This figure summarizes recent findings across priority areas in global mental health that are reported in this review