The World Mental Health Survey Initiative is a collaborative project by

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and country-based researchers worldwide to coordinate the analysis and implementation of

epidemiological Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

surveys of mental and

behavioral Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well ...

disorders and substance abuse in all

WHO Regions {{short description, Six regions of the world defined by the World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) divides the world into six WHO regions, for the purposes of reporting, analysis and administration. African Region (AFR) Alg ...

Aim

It is estimated that the burden of mental and addictive disorders are among the highest in the world with expected increase over the next decades. However, those estimations are not based on

cross-sectional Cross-sectional data, or a cross section of a study population, in statistics and econometrics, is a type of data collected by observing many subjects (such as individuals, firms, countries, or regions) at the one point or period of time. The analy ...

surveys, rather, they are mainly based on

literature reviews A literature review is an overview of the previously published works on a topic. The term can refer to a full scholarly paper or a section of a scholarly work such as a book, or an article. Either way, a literature review is supposed to provid ...

and isolated studies. The WMH Survey Initiative aim is to accurately address the global burden of mental disorders by obtaining accurate cross-sectional information about the prevalences and correlates of mental and behavioral disorders as well as substance abuse, allowing for evaluation of risk factors and study of patterns of service use in order to target appropriate interventions.

Collaborators

Collaborators in this survey come from all WHO regions of the world, with 27 participating countries.

References

{{Public health, state=collapsed World Health Organization