The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD), in which ICMR is one of the members, will soon begin research in the area of mental health.  The focus of the research will be on child, adolescent and adult age onset mental disorders including, but not limited to, dementia, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, alcohol- and drug-use disorders, etc., in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and/or in vulnerable populations in high-income countries (HIC).

The research subject is significant as mental disorders represent an ever-increasing burden, to all ages of the population, challenging mental health and health systems. For example, depression affects 350 million people in communities across the world and represents the third leading contributor to the global disease burden.  Dementia affects 47.5 million people worldwide with 58% of people living with dementia in low- and middle-income countries. Global costs associated with mental disorders were estimated to be $2.4 trillion in 2010 and are expected to rise to $5.8 trillion by 2030.

GACD has now invited research proposals from eligible scientists. Proposals must focus on mental disorders as defined by the WHO, and must focus on implementation research in LMIC, and/or in vulnerable populations in HIC. Mental health is an integral part of health as underlined in the WHO definition of health as a 'state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity'.

Proposals must build on interventions with promising or proven effectiveness (including cost-effectiveness) for the respective population groups under defined contextual circumstances. Interventions that address gender-associated risk factors and vulnerability to mental disorders or differences in access, utilization, or responsiveness to care should also be considered. The aim should be to answer key research questions about the adaption, and/or scale up of these intervention(s) in accessible, affordable and equitable ways in order to improve the prevention and management of mental disorders in the community in health care, psychosocial, and public health/community-based programs, and other settings. Interventions should meet conditions and requirements of the local health and social system context and address any other contextual factors identified as possible barriers. When economic factors prevent access to effective, low-cost appropriate medication and other management and treatment modalities, proactive policy and strategies should be encouraged to ensure the availability of such medication or other management/treatment modality or means should be found to overcome these barriers.

Mental disorders cause tremendous suffering for individuals, families, communities and societies. They also increase the risk of co-morbid illnesses  and social exclusion. There are obstacles to achieving effective prevention, early identification and management of mental disorders and to ensuring patients' adherence to therapies. Effective management approaches exist but their implementation in LMIC and vulnerable groups in HIC is influenced and sometimes hampered by socioeconomic and contextual factors that affect access to care: gender disparities; the stigma associated with mental disorders at work, in health care settings and communities; and circuitous pathways to mental health care and limited communication between traditional and biomedical practitioners. There is a need to strengthen the evidence base for the contextual scalability of interventions of promising or proven effectiveness for the promotion of mental health and the early identification and management of people at risk of or living with a mental disorder, taking into account the needs of different population groups across the life course.

GACD is a collection of the world's biggest public research funding agencies focusing on implementation research in chronic diseases. ICMR is one of the members of this alliance and partners in calling for proposals in one identified area; and the current focus is on mental health.

GACD aims to coordinate research on chronic diseases at a global level in order to enhance knowledge exchange across individual projects, and to better understand the impact of socio-economic, cultural, geopolitical and policy factors on the effectiveness and scalability of interventions, so as to appropriately adapt health interventions to different geographical, economic and cultural settings. Research under GACD involves regular exchange of research findings and information across participating projects by means of cross-project working groups and annual joint meetings.