There is a vast need for mental health support in populations affected by adversity globally. However, current evidence-based psychological interventions require significant resources and are highly challenging to bring to scale. This presentation will focus on an effort to address needs for mental health support through a WHO-developed guided self-help intervention. The presentation will discuss the adaptation and evaluation of the intervention with South Sudanese refugees in Uganda. Subsequently, the speaker will reflect on how this type of intervention may lend itself for integration in programming outside of the health sector to address the social determinants of mental health.

Nordic Global Health Talks is a monthly webinar series about global health research at Nordic universities, hosted by the Nordic Network on Global Health.

By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being
Professor Ingunn Maria S. Engebretsen, CIH, University of Bergen

Engebretsen explains that the Goal is ambitious, embracing everything that is “non-communicable”, it means everything that is not infectious. Her own research interests include diseases relating to nutrition and mental health. She noted that malnutrition, in particular, is a common factor for many poor health conditions.

Engebretsen highlighted a number of established theories (Forsdahl, Barker, Brenner) and newer theories linking genetics, epigenetics, environment and health, to argue that a lifestyle approach is needed to best tackle non-communicable diseases. She also mentioned how many of these diseases have significant socio-economic effects on society and many impact the health of future generations.

Finally, Engebretsen presented information about the importance of mental health, highlighting that this is a significant factor in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for young people (aged 15-24).

Episode 1, part 1: Interview with Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London about the current state of Global Health, with special focus on Health Equity. The first episode consists of two parts.
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The Swedish Global Health Podcast - A Podcast about Global Health and Sustainable Development is aimed at anyone interested in knowing more about this exciting topic! It is co-produced by the Swedish Society of Medicine's Committee for Global Health and the Swedish Society of Medicine's student and junior doctor section.

Episode 1, part 2: Interview with Sir Michael Marmot and Rt Hon Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, about collaboration between public Health experts and politicians, evidence driven policy, gender equality and the way forward for global health.
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The Swedish Global Health Podcast - A Podcast about Global Health and Sustainable Development is aimed at anyone interested in knowing more about this exciting topic! It is co-produced by the Swedish Society of Medicine's Committee for Global Health and the Swedish Society of Medicine's student and junior doctor section.