GACD to fund mental health research

The announcement was made at the World Bank Meeting “Out of the Shadows: Making Mental Health a Global Development Priority.

A joint call for proposals will be launched by GACD partner organisations in the fall of 2016. The call will focus on interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and/or vulnerable populations in high-income countries (HICs), which will look at approaches to improve the management of mental disorders including depression, dementia, schizophrenia and bi-polar affective disorders.

“GACD members understand the urgency in addressing mental health issues especially when considering its growing social and economic impact. Through its model of shared learning and development of research in a low-and middle-income resource setting, the GACD is taking a leadership role in fostering a multinational approach to improving mental health worldwide,” says Dr Alain Beaudet, Chair GACD

Mental disorders represent an ever-increasing burden, to all ages of the population, challenging mental health and health systems. For example, depression affects 350 million people in all communities across the world and represents the third leading contributor to the global disease burden [1]. Dementia affects 47.5 million people worldwide with 58% of people living with dementia in low- and middle-income countries [2]. Global costs associated with mental disorders expected to rise to US$ 6.0 trillion by 2030 [3]. [4] At the same time, between 76% and 85% of people with severe mental disorders in low-and middle-income countries receive no treatment for their mental health conditions. [5]

The GACD (Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases) is an alliance international funding agencies representing over 80 % of the world’s public health research funding agencies worldwide and the first collaboration of its kind to specifically address non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Our member organisations include:

• Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research

• The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

• The UK’s Medical Research Council

• The US’s National Institutes of Health

• The Indian Council of Medical Research

• The South African Medical Research Council

• The European Commission’s Health Directorate in the Research & Innovation DG

• Mexico’s National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán

• Argentina’s Ministry of Science Technology and Productive Innovation

• Thailand’s Health Systems Research Institute has confirmed its intention to join the alliance

Further information

Further details of the GACD mental health call will be announced on the GACD website. For press enquiries, please contact Rosie Bartlett, Communications Manager, GACD.

Footnotes

1. WHO Fact sheet nr 369, 2012

2. WHO Fact sheet nr 362, 2015

3. Bloom, D.E., Cafiero, E.T., Jané-Llopis, E., Abrahams-Gessel, S., Bloom, L.R., Fathima, S., Feigl, A.B., Gaziano, T., Mowafi, M., Pandya, A., Prettner, K., Rosenberg, L., Seligman, B., Stein, A.Z., & Weinstein, C. (2011). The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases. Geneva: World Economic Forum.

4. Bloom, D.E., Cafiero, E.T., Jané-Llopis, E., Abrahams-Gessel, S., Bloom, L.R., Fathima, S., Feigl, A.B., Gaziano, T., Mowafi, M., Pandya, A., Prettner, K., Rosenberg, L., Seligman, B., Stein, A.Z., & Weinstein, C. (2011). The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases. Geneva: World Economic Forum.

5. WHO Fact sheet nr 369, 2015