Editorial Commentary: An agenda for global child mental health

Even as mental health has become increasingly recognized as a key issue in global health, child mental health has largely remained in its shadows. This is possibly because many interventions for child mental health lie outside the realm of narrowly defined biomedical interventions and platforms, with the majority of interventions targeting psychological and social mechanisms and a strong emphasis on prevention. This situation must change, however, as child mental health interventions have potentially the greatest impact on the burden of mental disorders, and other health and social outcomes, than at any other time in the life course. There is now a growing body of evidence that indicates which interventions are ready for scale-up or show sufficient promise for further research and refinement. These are primarily delivered in community or school platforms through nonspecialist workers in partnership with parents and teachers. They include interventions to promote early child development, parenting interventions through childhood into adolescence, school interventions aimed at reengineering school environments and strengthening life skills, and interventions for the early detection and management of neurodevelopmental disorders and mental health problems through trans-diagnostic interventions based on impairments. Above all, what is needed is a population-based approach, which emphasizes the goal of coverage of evidence-based interventions for all children; with a particular focus on disadvantaged children; with seamless coordination of preventive and treatment interventions across platforms of care; and utilizing collaborative, stepped-care delivery paradigms.