Prof. Saeed Farooq

Bringing back lessons from the Global Health Research from Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) to the High-Income Countries (HIC)

Biography

Saeed Farooq is professor of Psychiatry and Public Mental Health at Keele University. Saeed is co-lead for mental health research at Clinical Research Network, West Midlands. He has about 250 publications in peer reviewed journals. Saeed is member of the executive committee of the academic faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He currently leads several studies as principal investigator in global health funded by the Medical Research Council and National Institute of Health Research, UK. He had innovative approaches in improving treatment adherence, and early detection and management of schizophrenia in lower. middle-income countries. He is currently leading a major programme of research for effective management of depression in Tuberculosis and capacity building in mental health research in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Abstract

The UK is the 2nd largest public funder of global health research and development after US and the funding levels for research and development have almost doubled in recent years. This has undoubtedly brought benefits for research, health policy and the health systems in LMIC. The flow of knowledge and skills, however, has mostly remained unidirectional from High Income Countries (HIC) to the low and middle-income countries (LMIC), resulting in predominantly a unidirectional discourse. The questions about this unidirectional discourse are raised but rarely these have been translated in practical and measureable steps. I will argue that this unidirectional discourse has a major disadvantage; almost complete lack of learning for UK and HIC from global health research in LMIC despite the heavy investment. A major aim of global health is addressing the health inequities, including within HIC like UK.

The lessons learnt in global health research, particularly in mental health must inform the health systems and health economy in UK. This requires a fundamental change in how we conceptualize the global mental health research. I will highlight the fundamental changes required in the present system of funding and carrying out global mental health research, the required skills sets and ethical framework for bringing back the lessons to UK and changing the unidirectional nature of current discourse. This will be based on a unique perspective developed during my work in developing services and research over a decade in a LMIC country setting and then work both in UK academia and the NHS.