Challenges to reduce the ‘10/90 gap’: mental health research in Latin American and Caribbean countries

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the status of mental health research in 30 Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC). Method: Medline and PsycInfo databases were searched to identify the LAC authors. Their publications were classified according to the topic, type of research and target population studied. Scientific indicators of these countries were assessed in other two different databases: Essential Scientific Information and Atlas of Science Project, both from Institute for Scientific Information. Results: Indexed‐publications were concentrated in six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. Most studies dealt with the burdensome mental disorders but neglected important topics such as violence and other mental health priorities. Conclusion: Mental health research is mostly concentrated in a few LAC countries, but these countries would contribute to reduce the research gap, if they provide research training to their neighbors and engage in bi‐ or multi‐lateral research collaboration on common region priorities.

Scarcity and inequity of mental health research resources in low-and-middle income countries: A global survey

“…Brazil, China and India alone accounted for 43% of indexed mental health publications and for almost 40% of the researchers identified (though, when considering the number of indexedpublications per million people in the 12 countries, ratios ranged from 0.2 to 17.1; and the density of mental health researchers per million people varied from 0.4 to 6.1). The countries with the highest research outputs, were the richest among the 114 LAMIC and those that have undertaken studies in collaboration with high-income countries and have national journals indexed in international databases (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and South Africa) [19,24,25].…”

“…Library Online), a continental database of scientific publication in health sciences in Latin America [19,25,26].…”

“…In 2004, the Global Forum for Health Research and the World Health Organization (WHO) launched an international study aimed at mapping mental health research capacity in 114 LAMIC during the period from 1993 to 2003 [18][19][20]. A central aim of this study was to build a case for action, including the identification of the main barriers to be addressed in the promotion of mental health research (e.g., scarcity, inequity and inefficiency) [21], based on an analysis of mental health publications in the indexed and grey literature as well as survey data on researchers' background and available resources.…”

La investigación como herramienta para mejorar el área de la salud mental y neurológica en países con pocos recursos.

“…Además, la gran desigualdad en producción de publicaciones en salud MN entre los países latinoamericanos se hace evidente cuando vemos que la mayoría de publicaciones vienen de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, México y Venezuela, con muy pocas o ninguna de los países restantes. Aún así, la producción de aquéllos seis está bastante lejos de igualar a la de los países desarrollados (11).…”

“…El presente artículo basa su contenido, en gran medida, en los principales hallazgos de estos estudios (11)(12)(13)(14)(15), pero enfatiza especialmente lo que se observa para la realidad peruana.…”