Decolonising mental health interventions in the humanitarian system
Open accessAbstract
Mental health is an increasing concern around the world, but there is a substantial gap between Western and non-Western countries in terms of access to quality mental healthcare. To help close this gap and improve the delivery of mental health and psychosocial support services (MHPSS), the UN’s 2016 Grand Bargain declared a new approach of prioritising the localisation of these services. This paper examines the effects of the Grand Bargain on the localisation of mental health and psychosocial support services in non-Western countries, as a means to decolonise mental health. An outcome evaluation was carried out to measure the amount of funding received by local and national agencies that provide MHPSS services in less economically developed countries. All data was gathered from the UN Financing Track System (FTS) and looked at financial contributions over time in six humanitarian sectors: health; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); gender-based violence; nutrition; protection, and shelter. The results show that local and national agencies received only 3% of international donors' MHPSS-related humanitarian funding between 2017 and 2021. Most localised MHPSS-related funding is driven by country-based pooled funds, with Middle Eastern countries as the primary beneficiaries, and localised MHPSS funding predominantly went to the health, WASH, and protection sectors. The study found limited localisation of MHPSS services in less economically developed countries, and a limited focus on community capacity building through associated humanitarian sectors. Based on this study, it is recommended that humanitarians should advocate for increased localisation and culturally competent practices in the MHPSS space.
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Biomedical approaches rooted in Western psychopathological models of distress remain the most widely implemented in MHPSS, to the detriment of interventions focused on social determinants of suffering.
“scholars have pointed out that biomedical approaches rooted in Western psychopathological models of distress remain the most widely implemented, to the detriment of interventions focused on social determinants of suffering in circumstances of structural adversity (Marshall 2022;Hillel 2023).”
From Throwing therapy at the problem mental health and humanitarian intervention in Palabek refugee settlement, northern Uganda (2023) · cites this paper as Hillel 2023
The MHPSS section (p. 4) describes critiques of overly medicalised, Western-based interventions and calls for attention to socio-ecological factors. Finding 5 (p. 10) says the results suggest that most funding supports medical treatments rather than community-based interventions. Funding patterns do not establish that biomedical approaches are the most widely implemented, and the paper does not specifically assess interventions addressing suffering under structural adversity. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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Torre, C. (2023) · London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) · doi:10.21953/lse.00004557
- Authors
- Shaul Hillel, R.
- Venue
- The Humanitarian Leader
- Publisher
- Deakin University
- Published
- 2023-02-14
- ISSN
- 2653-1011 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4320729839
- Cited by
- 1
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1
- FWCI
- 0.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Humanitarian Leader (publishedVersion)
- The Deakin Law Review (Deakin University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Development › International Development and Aid
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Conflict Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Global Health and Surgery
- Keywords
- decolonization, mental health and psychosocial support, humanitarian funding, Grand Bargain, non-Western countries, community capacity building, culturally competent practice
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