Ross Fiona, Pentecost Michelle, Lachman Anusha
Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Faculty of Social Health and Policy, Kings College, London, United Kingdom.
J Coll Med S Afr. 2024 May 31;2(1):74. doi: 10.4102/jcmsa.v2i1.74. eCollection 2024.
Mental health is a priority area for global health, with a particular focus on well-being in majority of the world countries. Attention to early life demonstrates the significance of infant well-being for long-term health. International organisations such as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank guidelines shape interventions in the majority world. At the same time, there are severe shortages of trained mental health personnel on the African continent and growing concerns about the potentially skewed evidence base that informs the science of interventions. Scholars across a range of disciplines are calling for attention to more diverse evidence sources; for better understandings of the syndemic interactions that shape mental health and for interventions that take account of local ideals while retaining a strong evidence base. As questions of how best to secure infant well-being and the adequacy of knowledge surrounding it emerges with growing force on the global scene, it is critical that the full range of infants' worlds are represented in scholarship. What do exposures to structural violence, interpersonal violence, social assault, and environmental insult mean for our understanding of 'normal' development both in our context and globally? What are the dangers of not accounting for these exposures? What evidence bases matter? How do we know? These are critical questions. They arise in the context of limited, under-resourced and often poorly supported opportunities for adequate screening, early recognition, and suitable interventions for both infants and caregivers in Africa.
心理健康是全球健康的一个优先领域，世界上大多数国家尤其关注幸福安康。关注生命早期体现了婴幼儿幸福安康对长期健康的重要性。诸如联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）、世界卫生组织（WHO）和世界银行等国际组织的指导方针影响着世界大多数地区的干预措施。与此同时，非洲大陆受过培训的心理健康专业人员严重短缺，人们越来越担心为干预科学提供依据的证据基础可能存在偏差。众多学科的学者呼吁关注更多样化的证据来源；更好地理解塑造心理健康的综合征交互作用；呼吁采取既考虑当地理念又保持坚实证据基础的干预措施。随着如何确保婴幼儿幸福安康以及围绕这一问题的知识是否充足等问题在全球范围内日益凸显，至关重要的是，学术界要全面呈现婴幼儿的世界。在我们所处的环境以及全球范围内，接触结构性暴力、人际暴力、社会攻击和环境伤害对我们理解“正常”发育意味着什么？不考虑这些接触会有哪些风险？哪些证据基础至关重要？我们如何知晓？这些都是关键问题。它们产生于非洲为婴幼儿及其照料者提供充分筛查、早期识别和适当干预的机会有限、资源不足且往往缺乏有力支持的背景下。
