13 March 2022
Dear readers,
Welcome to another edition of the newsletter dedicated to global mental health news, resources, job ads, events and publications. Thank you to all subscribers, new and enduring, for your continued attention, and I hope you gain something from this month’s selection. Any feedback, requests and suggestions for comment can reach me at manolova.gergana@gmail.com.
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Yours,
Gergana
News and Notes in Global Mental Health
Here I share interesting pieces of information, announcements and news that have reached me in our field. I rely on your contributions as well - please share your news or announcements with me.
MQ supports research by early career researchers globally
Researchers hosted anywhere in the world can have the opportunity to investigate early mortality among people living with mental illness - a topic of great need of attention - under this grant scheme of UK charity MQ, dedicated to mental health research. Applicants with 3 to 7 years of post-doctoral (or equivalent) experience are most suitable to receive the funding of up to GBP 225,000 for three years. Deadline is until 29 April - learn more here.
March Alliance magazine issue on mental health philanthropy
Philanthropic funding for mental health is lagging behind other health funding, and this has prompted Alliance magazine, which reviews philanthropic work, to have a special issue on mental health this March. Many of the articles are available on a subscription model, but an excellent free editorial by Krystian Seibert sums up the status quo of the field.
Wellcome Mental Health Data Prize opening soon
Teams based in South Africa and the UK can apply for the funding that Wellcome provides to investigate depression and anxiety in young people, further continuing the donor’s work in the area. Data analysis is encouraged, as well as creation of tools to do that. Initial funding of £40,000 will be available to each of up to 10 teams, which will then be funneled through the phases of prototyping and ensuring sustainability with additional funding. Applications will open in April until June - prepare by reading more on the website.
Carter Center welcoming mental health journalism fellows
One of the best schemes in the world in a specialized field, the Carter Center Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism is now open to recruit fellows from the US, Latin America, Qatar and UAE. For one year fellows will focus on honing their skills, learning the nuances of mental health reporting and carrying through their proposed project (the website has a database on projects by fellows). Applications are open until 6 April.
Events in Global Mental Health
The event calendar for 2022 is LIVE at globallyminded.org. Keep in mind that online events - and they are nearly all online - usually are announced shortly before they take place and I publish them on the website with only 2-3 days’ notice. I only publish some spotlights here.
Stigma in mental health: Is it coming from society or within mental health itself? - I have a lot of time for seminars like this which promise to delve into the implicit social consensus on how to view people with mental illness. I often find that the nuanced discussions reset my thinking and allow me to view issues from different perspectives. But moreover, since people living with mental illness are in a vulnerable power position in society - they stand to lose a lot more from our limited or negative thinking than we do - it’s also a subtle way to call on each of us for a private reckoning and deconstruct our preconceived notions.
Breaking the cycle of poverty and mental illness among youth: The Perks and Perils of cash transfers - this is the ending event of a large interdisciplinary project on mental health and economics, an area of growing interest - so hopefully we get to hear whether it’s really that promising. Cash transfers are a favourite in developmental economics due to many studies with surprisingly good results for individuals, but what mediates the complex connections with mental health, and is it good news?
Jobs in Global Mental Health
The jobs listed here might not be advertised as being in global mental health and the decision for including them is mine alone. Unless otherwise stated, I have found out about them through job sites, social media posts, other newsletters and so on, so I have no more information on them than publicly available and you should refer to those listed in the job ad.
No or minimum experience necessary
Summer Research Fellowship, Happier Lives Institute - by 20 March
Research Assistant, King’s College London, UK - by 13 March
Research Assistant, Georgetown University, US
PhD Student, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Switzerland - by 22 March
Lived Experience Advisory Board Coordinator / Research Assistant, King’s College London, UK - by 30 March
Some experience (2-5 years) necessary
Research Fellow in Conflict and Mental Health, LSHTM, UK - by 13 March
Consultant for global report, WHO, remote - by 17 March
Consultant roster, Brain Health Unit at WHO - by 5 April
MHPSS Project Manager, Medair, Yemen - by 24 April
5+ years of experience necessary
Regional Adviser, World Health Organization, India - by 15 March
Senior Research Manager, Wellcome, UK - by 14 March
Psychological Intervention Researcher, UNICEF, remote - by 14 March
Hotline Counselling Support Consultant, IOM, remote (Ukrainian or Russian needed) - by 31 March
Global Cultures Consultant, Lyra Health, remote
PSS Delegate, Danish Red Cross, Burkina Faso - by 16 May
Advisor, Global Technical MHPSS Unit, International Medical Corps, Ukraine
Resources in Global Mental Health
A section for various opportunities, databanks, information sources that may prove helpful.
As the world’s attention is focused on the painful war unfolding in Ukraine, the MHPSS community has put together resources to help those affected, whether refugees, internally displaced people or those living with the daily fears and terrors of war. Even the short time elapsed since the beginning of the armed conflict has caused untold damage to people’s psyche, as the bitter experience of so many conflicts all over the world has shown.
MHPSS.net Emergency Briefing Kit Ukraine - Russia Conflict (2022) for mental health responders, field workers, parents and mental health professionals - this kit, also in Ukrainian, has emergency and general mental health and psychosocial support resources in English, Ukrainian and Russian, and you can also join the MHPSS.net group which monitors the conflict situation and provides further resources.
IASC Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, Humanitarian Response in Ukraine and Neighbouring Countries resources - a collection of MHPSS tools and toolkits in English, Ukrainian, Russian and the languages of European countries around Ukraine which have been receiving refugees.
Parenting tips for families affected by the conflict in Ukraine - a set of evidence-based tips and parenting resources from trials of parenting programmes in a social media-friendly format, put together by the the Parenting for Lifelong Health team
Publications in Global Mental Health
The selection of publications ultimately reflects my personal knowledge and preferences, but I have no intended bias. Feel free to send me publications you consider interesting or that you would like to be featured. I try to focus on articles that are free or open access.
Mental Health and COVID-19: Early evidence of the pandemic’s impact (pdf) - the scientific brief by World Health Organization was launched this month and manages to summarize elegantly the disparate data about the specific effect on mental health by life under the shadow of COVID-19. The 27.6% estimated increase in major depressive disorder globally (and 25.6% in anxiety disorder incidence) is the headline news, but there are sobering numbers for mental healthcare delivery elsewhere, too - increased risk of severe COVID-19 and lethal outcome among people living with mental disorders, profound disruptions in delivering outpatient care, and failure to provide consistent good services to people with mental disorders via telemedicine. Of course, the last may be growing pains in the move to a different modality, but the harm to therapeutic relationships and interrupted recoveries is done. The pandemic is unfortunately not over, and we should take these lessons with us forward in organizing care and doing preventative work for all, but especially for people with mental disorders. Let us not forget the looming syndemic of poor mental health which may be a direct cause of living through COVID-19…
Risks of mental health outcomes in people with COVID-19: cohort study - … as evidenced by this now well-publicized BMJ article, which reflects a large cohort study in the US. It is not the only one, just one of the latest, to show that survivors of COVID-19 have increased odds of depressive and anxiety disorders, as well as increased use of substances - prescribed or otherwise. This appears to be linked to even higher odds of neurocognitive decline and sleep disorders, indicating not just a psychological reaction to the disease, but also a biological one. Beyond the factual article, the lack of recognition and acknowledgement of this advancing problemseems surprising, but we may attribute this to the little concrete knowledge we have yet on how long these effects last, and what the best interventions may be. It is clear that the response needs to be on a different scale, and perhaps with different tools, than what we’ve seen so far in the global mental health field.
Follow the money: Global funding of child and family MHPSS activities in development and humanitarian assistance (pdf) - an excellent report from the MHPSS Collaborative which follows on the heels of the UNICEF October 2021 report State of the World’s Children, focusing on the little-met mental health needs of children and adolescents globally. Examining the so-called Official Development Assistance for 2018 and 2019, the report finds that child and family MHPSS represents a minute 0.31% of ODA funding (in 2019). This potentially means that if there is impact from high-level pledges, it is delayed, and the picture of the past two pandemic years may look grimmer. The report delivers on its title promise and provides useful breakdowns of donors, recipients and amounts, which are worth reading in detail. The recommendations given at the end how to streamline the use of these limited resources are particularly important and directed to donors and recipients alike, although governments are strangely lacking from the recipient list and recommendations on funding local and national actor can be strengthened. (See the ‘Publications’ from the previous issue for some interesting reads on localisation.)