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HBGI was born out of a global lack of prioritization and funding for mental health, established in 2019 in collaboration with the World Bank and with the support of the World Health Organization and UNICEF. We are challenging orthodoxy on what is spent and how. We are revolutionizing the scale and the effectiveness of mental health provision around the world. We are using the tools of outcomes-based contracting and performance management to do this.

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A GLOBAL HEALTH CRISIS

6 trillion

US dollars of annual cost to the global economy

10%

of the Global Burden of Disease is from mental health and neurological conditions

<2%

of country’s health budgets go to mental health

Poor mental health is a shadow pandemic. Without change, by 2030, mental health problems will be the cause of death for more people than cancer, diabetes and respiratory conditions combined. Yet there are insufficient services and programs to address poor mental health and its socio-economic challenges, and those that do exist are often contracted poorly resulting in wastage of generous funding

WHAT WE DO

HBGI will take a flexible, outcomes-based model to support community-based approaches to improving mental health, improve life chances, and foster systems-level change.

Our Approach

OUR JOURNEY

The Healthy Brains Global Initiative (HBGI) was founded in 2020, uniting world leaders across sectors to tackle this growing global issue. During the first two years, HBGI commissioned studies to develop its strategy and united a wide variety of stakeholders through its Interim Board and Lived Experience Council.
We are now mobilizing our first projects, using performance management and outcomes-based contracting to drive the provision and outcomes of mental health services for users across the world.
Programs include: our pilot with Right to Care to integrate maternal mental health care into existing health care systems in Limpopo province, South Africa; kicking off work in California to roll out a new performance management system in support of Behavioral Health Services in several counties; and wider Technical Assistance work including chairing Impact Bonds in Palestine and South Africa and advising on outcomes-based interventions to counter drug misuse in Senegal & Tanzania.
See our reports page for more information.

HBGI Reports

SUPPORT FOR HBGI

HBGI is supported by its Board of Directors, Lived Experience Council, Advisory Council, and the management team.

HBGI views collaboration as a key part of its approach and is pleased to share logos and quotes from several key supporters below.

“I am pleased to inform you of UNICEF’s readiness to be identified as a formal collaborator in the work of the HBGI. As a collaborator, we will ensure that UNCIEF’s perspective and voice on early childhood is well reflected, and advocate for implementation research, and better capacity building and support to research agencies in low and middle-income countries. You can count on us to do our part.”

-Henrietta Fore, former Executive Director of UNICEF

“I commend [HBGI] for thinking creatively not only about new science but new funding strategies from bonds to direct investments in this transformational global fund. The World Health Organization is pleased to support this initiative.”

-Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)