WHO and the mental health of children

WHO's work on child mental health began with John Bowlby's classic on the subject, written for WHO in the early 1950s. In the mid-1970s the Division of Mental Health was created, and this led to major advances in establishing a sound epidemiological and scientific basis for child mental health services. Significant contributions were made to the establishment of "biobehavioural" interventions to tackle the major causes of childhood mortality and morbidity throughout the world, and to provide better care for children with mental disorders at primary level.