For Dr. Peter Singer, the answer to why mental illness has become the world’s “most neglected of neglected diseases” can be found, in part, behind a locked door in Uganda.

Last March, Singer met a Ugandan social worker at a workshop organized by Grand Challenges Canada, the non-profit organization for which he currently serves as CEO. The worker told him about visiting a Ugandan family and asking the father how many children he had. His response was, “Four — and another one.”

Confused, the worker asked to see the children but only four were presented. When he asked to see the fifth, the father led him to a back room.

“There, behind the locked door, was the ‘other one,’ which was the fifth child with the mental health disorder,” Singer recalled. “That is, to me, emblematic of some of the worst cases of stigmatization — but that story also explains why (global mental health) is such a neglected area.”

On Wednesday, Grand Challenges Canada announced it will be giving $19.4 million to 15 projects using innovative ideas to improve mental health in the developing world. The recipients will work in 14 low and middle-income countries — everywhere from Haiti and Guyana to Pakistan and Zimbabwe — and focus on improving services, increasing access to treatment and combating stigma. The funding will be spread over three years.

The announcement coincides with World Mental Health Day and reflects a growing recognition of the need for a global effort to combat mental illness.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 450 million people around the world suffer from mental health disorders (which the WHO defines as both neurological and substance-use disorders).

But more than 75 per cent of those people live in developing countries — and within that group, approximately eight out of 10 people are not receiving treatment.

Funded by the federal government, Grand Challenges Canada was created in 2010 to invest in “bold ideas with big impact in global health.” According to Dr. Shekhar Saxena, director of WHO’s department of mental health and substance abuse, the Canadian organization is making “massive strides” in contributing to an area of global health that has traditionally been neglected.

“The unique thing is, one, it is dedicated to the low- and middle-income country researchers; and second, it is done in a systematic manner so that the impact is likely to be much larger,” Saxena said. “What is really unique about Grand Challenges Canada is that they’ve thought about it and they’re doing it in a way that can have the best impact from the money that is available.”

Grand Challenges Canada began accepting project proposals in July 2011 and received 92 applications from around the world, Singer said.

A peer review committee whittled the finalists down to 15. Each project will receive a different amount of money depending on its specific needs.

One of the Canadian recipients is Dr. Clare Pain, a University of Toronto psychiatry professor and director of Mount Sinai’s psychological trauma program, who is collaborating with Ethiopian psychiatrists Dawit Wondimagegn and Atalay Alem.

Their project will receive $1 million to build upon the efforts of a nine-year partnership between the University of Toronto and Addis Ababa University. The collaboration has helped expand and develop Ethiopia’s health-care system from having just 11 psychiatrists nine years ago to 44 today.

The funding from Grand Challenges will enable Pain’s team to “scale up” psychological services by training psychiatrists, who in turn will train nearly 300 counsellors to help 15,000 patients over three years.

University of Calgary professor Dr. Richard Scott will also get $920,000 to enhance mental health care in Afghanistan, where 50 per cent of the population suffers from mental problems, according to a 2009 Ministry of Public Health report.

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For Scott — who will focus on using technology, such as cellphones and text messaging, to improve services and combat stigma — it is rare to come across funding earmarked specifically for global mental health.

“If there’s an area that is not paid attention to, it has to be mental health. It’s almost swept under the carpet,” Scott said. “I think there’s been a growing recognition in recent years of the importance of this in developed countries — but to even comprehend the importance of this in developing countries is a major step forward.”

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