Building global capacity for brain and nervous system disorders research

Abstract

The global burden of neurological, neuropsychiatric, substance-use and neurodevelopmental disorders in low- and middle-income countries is worsened, not only by the lack of targeted research funding, but also by the lack of relevant in-country research capacity. Such capacity, from the individual to the national level, is necessary to address the problems within a local context. As for many health issues in these countries, the ability to address this burden requires development of research infrastructure and a trained cadre of clinicians and scientists who can ask the right questions, and conduct, manage, apply and disseminate research for practice and policy. This Review describes some of the evolving issues, knowledge and programmes focused on building research capacity in low- and middle-income countries in general and for brain and nervous system disorders in particular.

The immunogenetics of neurological disease

“…Neurological disease impacts approximately 1 billion individuals around the world, comprising individuals of all age groups and races, in diverse geographical locations and with diverse socio-economic status. 1 Together, neurological diseases represent 7Á1% of the total global burden of disease, evaluated in disability-adjusted life years, across all causes and ages. 2 Despite significant progress in the management of many neurological diseases, we are still lacking complete and coherent models of pathogenesis, and as a result the repertoire of available therapies is imperfect.…”

The Digital Phenotyping Project: A Psychoanalytical and Network Theory Perspective

“…Researchers oriented by psychoanalysis must also contribute to the enrichment of data and their categorization on the basis of ontologies. Indeed, for enriched data and methods based on machine learning to be beneficial for numerical phenotyping in mental health, rigorous evaluations will be necessary to ensure that the proposed solutions are effective, acceptable, and culturally relevant (Cottler et al, 2015). Also, what psychoanalysis could contribute in this context should be linked to other issues identified in the mental health field, so as to not fall back into a one-dimensional and ultimately reductionist posture.…”

Development of national capabilities in low and middle income countries for research in child mental health

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key to promote worldwide improvements [1,6]. The current issue of the European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry brings three examples of two upper middle income countries-Brazil and Mexico-where local research groups have been producing novel and relevant findings to the international community and influencing organization of local health systems and policymakers.

In Brazil, the National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (http://inpd.org.br) congregates researchers from different universities who together have launched cross-sectional studies, a large community cohort with extensive phenotype data and neuroimaging and genomic information, a birth cohort, and a home-visiting intervention for high-risk pregnant youth.

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“…key to promote worldwide improvements [1,6]. The current issue of the European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry brings three examples of two upper middle income countries-Brazil and Mexico-where local research groups have been producing novel and relevant findings to the international community and influencing organization of local health systems and policymakers.…”

“…Also, patterns of progress are not consistent across the LMICs, and most of low and middle-low income countries have very scarce-if anyresearch capabilities. Frameworks for research-capacity building at the individual, institutional, and national levels have been described [6] and the international scientific community can play important roles in fostering these processes. The challenges and opportunities ahead are significant [3,12], but the scientific synergies created by networks, mentoring, and research collaborations have huge potentials to promote learning, growth and development, for all parties involved.…”