Global Mental Health

Putting Evidence into Practice: The PLoS Medicine Series on Global Mental Health Practice

Vikram Patel^1,2, Rachel Jenkins³, Crick Lund⁴, the PLoS

 Today we are delighted to announce the launch of the PLoS Medicine series on Global Mental Health Practice, and to issue a call for case studies that can help broaden our understanding of global mental health in “real-life” contexts.

The series was initiated by the lead author (VP), who is joined by two other leaders in global mental health (RP and CL) to serve as guest editors. Together, they bring an international, broad, and multidisciplinary perspective that will assist the PLoS Medicine senior Magazine editor (JC) in developing this vital series.

We aim to address the gap between public health approaches to mental health, exemplified by two series in The Lancet [1],[2], and clinical approaches to addressing mental disorders (such as the packages of care published in this journal [3] and efficacy studies often published in specialist psychiatric journals). Lying between these two realms is a niche for demonstrating how the principles of global mental health are put into practice in real-world contexts. These principles, reflected in the goals of international efforts such as the Movement for Global Mental Health (http://www.globalmentalhealth.org), explicitly aim to (1) improve access to evidence-based care for people with mental, neurological, or substance use disorders and (2) promote the human rights of people affected by these disorders. Articles in the PLoS Medicine series will report a diverse range of health interventions from around the world where action has demonstrated tangible improvements in one or both of these goals./.../