Within the global mental health field exists a gap in evidence-based knowledge of mental health issues especially from low and middle income countries. Operating field mental health and development programmes in seven developing countries. BasicNeeds stands in a unique position to offer ground-level perspectives on mental health practice and policy issues. This is significant especially in this field where very little is written about the very day situation of people with mental illness or epilepsy from poor communiites.

From 2001 onwards BasicNeeds set up field programmes in seven countries in rapid succession and also set up, as part of this, the recording of individual data. The data collection quickly grew into an international research programme which also then expanded to policy studies and outcome evaluative studies. The dividend from this research was original ifonrmation about mental health practice and policy from low and middle income countries in Africa and Asia. To harness this large and definable body of new knowledge, BasicNeeds set up its Knowledge Programme in 2007. One of the major functions or "result areas" of the knowledge programme is to draw out evidence and learning about mental health and development and esnure its dissemination through publications. Our publications in 2008 are of two kinds: those that have been accepted and published in 'external' publications often peer reviewed journals, and those that BasicNeeds has published through its own resources.

You can download our external research reports from our research publication section.