Global mental health and development: a thematic series

With publication of the paper “A Position Statement on mental health in the post-2015 development agenda”, [1] we launch the first International Journal of Mental Health Systems thematic series, Global Mental Health and Development. The United Nations Millennium Declaration, [2] adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2000, set out “certain fundamental values” – freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and shared responsibility – considered essential to international relations in the twenty-first century, and key objectives of “special significance”. These included commitments to peace, security and disarmament; development and poverty eradication; protection of the environment; human rights, democracy and good governance; protecting the vulnerable; meeting the special needs of Africa; and strengthening the United Nations. In many of these areas the world has made little if any progress. The standout success among these ambitious objectives is the domain of development and poverty eradication. The adoption by governments and development institutions of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been followed by unprecedented effort and investment and has resulted in impressive gains in several of the MDGs [3]. Reduction of extreme poverty and the number of people living in urban slums, major advances in HIV-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, improvements in maternal health, and substantial increases in the number of children receiving primary education are examples of development gains that have a direct and positive impact on population mental health [4]. However, it is also clear that some of the most vulnerable and marginalised populations, including people with mental disorders and psychosocial disabilities (and people with physical, sensory, or intellectual disabilities), have been largely excluded from the benefits of these broad