Mental Health

Mental disorders are quickly gaining in importance in the burden of disease for the populations of many developing countries.  This website tries to present materials related to the impact of poor mental health on development at various levels.  For example, in (post) conflict situations the large number of people with mental health issues impacts substantially on the recovery from the losses of war.  Mental health interventions for injecting drug users can contribute to recovery from addiction and reduction of risk for HIV infection. Child health and development is much dependent on the mental health of the care givers.

• Publication: Mental Health in Afghanistan: Burden, Challenges and the Way Forward
• Psychological First Aid: Guide for Field Workers
• The WHO Mental Health Atlas
• Publication: "Mental Health & Conflicts: Conceptual Framework & Approaches"
• Publication: "HIV/AIDS and Mental Health"
• Seminar: "Show-Casing Five Years of Mental Health and Neurological Disorders Activities at the World Bank". November 11, 2004.
• Mental health covers a wide range of topics from Children's Mental Health, over Depression and Gender to Post conflict issues and Suicide. Go here for more mental health topics
• Mental Health and Conflict Toolkit (PDF 699kb)
• Proceedings of the November 2003 Seminar entitled: "Mental Health & the Global Development Agenda: What Role for the World Bank?" (PDF 1.58MB) are available along with an Overview of World Bank Interventions in Mental Health
• A publication by Save the Children Federation, Inc: "Children in Crisis: Good Practices in Evaluating Psychosocial Programming" (PDF 1.06MB) 
• The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA): "Prevalence, Severity, and Unmet Need for Treatment of Mental Disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys"