Missed Opportunities in Global Health: Identifying New Strategies to Improve Mental Health in LMICs

Countries like South Africa and India are putting new mental health policies in place. There is now a clear agenda of “what to deliver” to make this deplorable reality better, and indeed a nascent advocacy community has begun to call for action and align scientific research. This paper sets out this status quo, but also makes a unique contribution by investigating practical and immediate opportunities on “how to deliver” more effectively on this new agenda, suggesting reforms to three existing LMIC government and donor strategies to extend healthcare coverage, pay healthcare providers, and alleviate poverty using cash transfers.