Neurological and mental disorders and diseases news, resources and funding for global health researchers

Fogarty and the NIH invest in research to address a number of neurological and mental disorders and diseases. These conditions are an enormous burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which lack the financial and human resources to deal with them. Included are:

• Addiction
• Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
• Neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and learning disabilities
• Neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Seizure disorders

Fogarty and NIH also support research on how environmental exposures, childhood adversity, nutrition, injury and other factors impact brain development, and how the rehabilitation process for these diseases and disorders influences treatment and recovery.

Research at NIH on the full spectrum of brain disorders and diseases spans many of the NIH Institutes and Center. Fogarty's Global Brain Disorders Research program generates more trans-NIH support than any other Fogarty program.

Recent News

• 2023 NIDA International Forum Focuses on Enhancing Global Substance Use Research, Treatment, and Policies
  NIDA International E-Newsletter, September 25, 2023
• Parkinson’s disease gene variant found in study of some people of African ancestry
  NIH/NIA/NINDS news, August 22,2023
• Changes in Human Microbiome Precede Alzheimer’s Cognitive Declines
  NIH Director’s blog, June 27, 2023
• Mental health, climate change, equitable collaboration
  Global Health Matters, May/June 2023
• WHO launches a single-source repository on drug dependence information
  WHO news, June 1, 2023
• Brain signatures for chronic pain identified in a small group of individuals
  NINDS/NIH news, May 22, 2023
  
• Suicide in Global Mental Health, co-authored by Fogarty grantee Milton L. Wainberg
  Current Psychiatry Reports, May 13, 2023
• South to South Collaboration to Strengthen Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa, supplement in Journal of Adolescent Health supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, May 2023
• NIH researchers identify large genetic changes that contribute to dementia risk
  NIH/NIA news, May 8, 2023
  
• Depression, suicidality, substance-use and associated factors among people living with HIV the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda, co-authored by Fogarty grantee Celestino Obua
  PLos One, May 5, 2023
• Researchers probe HIV-associated stroke in Zambia
  Global Health Matters
  Mar / Apr 2023
• Prevalence of dementia in India underestimated
  Global Health Matters
  Mar / Apr 2023
  

Related Fogarty News and Information

Feature: Mental health treatment abroad

• Addressing mental health abroad helps US communities
  
• Employing user-centered design to fill gaps in mental health treatment
  
• Tackling tobacco, TB, and mental health in South Africa

Global Health Matters, Nov/Dec 2022

NIH News and Resources

Neuroscience and Neurological Disorders

• NIH Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative
• Neuroscience@NIH
• NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research
• NIH NeuroBioBank - A federated network of U.S. brain and tissue repositories
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) resources:
• NINDS Disorder Index
• NINDS Common Data Elements (CDE) Project - systematically collect, analyze and share data across the neurological research community
• NINDS Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience funding
• Neuroscience from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Neurological Diseases and Disorders and Climate Change from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Global Environmental Health
• International Alzheimer's Disease Research Portfolio (IADRP) from the National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Mental Health

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH):
• Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health from NIMH
• Mental Health Information from NIMH
• Webinars on Disparities and Global Mental Health from NIMH
• NIMH 2020 Strategic Plan
• Grand Challenges in Mental Health article series following NIH workshop 
  PLOS Medicine, spring 2013:
• Integration in research, policy and practice
• Integrating maternal mental health into maternal and child health programs
• Integrating mental health care into the noncommunicable disease agenda
• Improving HIV treatment outcomes by integrating interventions for comorbid mental illness
• Integrating mental health services into priority health care platforms
• Mental Health and Stress-Related Disorders
  from NIEHS Global Environmental Health

Aging

• National Institute on Aging (NIA) on Global Aging

Addiction

• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on Addiction Science
• NIDA International Program

Other US Government Resources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Mental Health information
• Department of Defense (DoD): DoD Special Report: Traumatic Brain Injury
• Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
• National Center for PTSD
• VA, DOD embark on new endeavor to study mysteries of traumatic brain injury
  VA Office of Research and Development news, January 14, 2020
• MentalHealth.gov
• National Science Foundation (NSF) Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS)
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)U.S. Government Action Plan on Children in Adversity

Other Online Resources

• Global mental health series
  from The Lancet, October 17, 2011
• International Brain Research Organization (IBRO)
• Society for Neuroscience
• World Health Organization (WHO): Mental Health and Substance Use
  

Updated September 27, 2023