“On October 10, the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Committee on Children’s Rights at the United Nations commemorated World Mental Health Day, an official U.N. international day, with a side event on children’s psychosocial wellbeing,” Mahroo Moshari, a consultant on education and multicultural mental health issues, writes in the Huffington Post’s “Impact”…

USAID’s “Impact”: On the Frontlines of the Ebola Response: an Inside Look at a Program to Help the Grieving USAID’s Ebola Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) discusses the challenges that psychosocial counselors face when interacting with grieving communities affected by Ebola (8/18).

NPR: Why Cambodians Never Get ‘Depressed’ “…Mental distress is a universal condition. The World Health Organization has made global access to mental health care one of its key goals. But just as words for depression and anxiety get lost in translation, so can treatments. … Culture affects how people understand…

Financial Times: Dementia research boosted by $100m venture capital fund “Research into dementia is to be boosted by a $100m venture capital fund backed by the U.K. government and several of the world’s biggest pharmaceuticals companies…” (Ward, 3/17). Reuters: Dementia drug research aided by $100 million venture capital fund “…The…

New York Times: Schizophrenics and Home Care “Home treatment for schizophrenics overseen by local health workers is more effective than institutionalization, a recent large study in India has found. …The study, underwritten by the Wellcome Trust and published this month in The Lancet, said it was the first of its…

Huffington Post: Global Health Must Include Mental Health Craig and Marc Kielburger, co-founders of Free The Children “…Mental health challenges are a significant barrier to economic and social development around the world. Resources and expertise are extremely limited, creating a huge gap between the need and the ability to treat.…

Jack Myer, Syria regional disaster assistance response team leader in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, writes in USAID’s “IMPACTblog” about the ongoing conflict in Syria and how “9.3 million people now find themselves in need of humanitarian assistance,” particularly women and children. “The U.S. will continue to provide…

Humanosphere: Visualizing the most neglected disease: Mental illness In a guest post, Amy VanderZanden, a communications data specialist at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), discusses the global burden of mental health disorders, which “made up virtually the same proportion of disability in the population…

New York Times: A Depression-Fighting Strategy That Could Go Viral Tina Rosenberg, author and former editorial writer for the New York Times “…Depression is the most important thief of productive life for women around the world, and the second-most important for men. … We know how to treat depression. What…

“African psychiatrists and mental health experts are determined to change what they all agree is the alarming condition of mental health care across the continent,” where “[c]aregivers are few and health facilities even fewer,” the Associated Press reports. “Experts are meeting in the Ugandan capital this week to press their…