Global access to care for common mental health problems following adverse experiences can be significantly improved by developing, implementing, and evaluating scalable interventions. As highlighted within WHO’s mental health Global Action Program (mhGAP), there is a large gap between prevalence of mental health problems and evidence-based service availability and use in the vast majority of communities of the world.

Therefore, in communities affected by adversity where this gap is larger, the case for low intensity interventions is especially strong. Communities facing the highest rates of adverse events also tend to be communities with the least developed mental health care systems and the greatest number of barriers preventing people from accessing available services.

Potential barriers include underdeveloped or damaged health infrastructure, limited availability of professionals and poverty. Although each of these issues can prevent people from accessing care, adverse events often exacerbate existing challenges. These can then intensify and worsen, ultimately resulting in services being far out of reach for the majority of people.

In recent years, a range of low intensity interventions have been found to be effective for people suffering high levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Although much of this work has been done in high-income countries, there is an increasing momentum to develop and test similar interventions for low-income settings.