Global health. The current scenario and future perspectives

176 in view of its estimated disease burden. In Latin America, this discrepancy is at least three-fold in higher-income countries and reaches 435 times in lower-income countries, with a regional median of 34 (OPS, 2018). Despite this observation, there is a growing consensus that mental health and physical health should be understood and addressed as a unified entity and it is recognized that if one is harmed, the other will inevitably be affected. Ample evidence supports the well-known motto “There is no health without mental health” (Prince et al., 2007). International resources from developed countries are increasingly assigned to Global Mental Health. In terms of human resource development, numerous specialized postgraduate training programs in this field, especially in Anglo-Saxon universities, already exist. As expected, these programs predominantly adhere to the prevailing paradigm from the Global North to the Global South. On the international financial assistance side, it has been estimated that only 0.3% of the total international development aid budget for health was exclusively allocated to mental health issues between 2006 and 2016 (Liese et al., 2019). The inclusion of mental health and well-being in the Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015) may eventually lead to an improvement in this situation. The Covid-19 pandemic has garnered significant attention for its effects on the mental health of populations worldwide. There have been concerted efforts to evaluate the impact of interventions in this context from various disciplinary perspectives (Holmes et al., 2020). To date, approximately 2,250 indexed scientific articles addressing the implications of this global phenomenon for Global Mental Health have been published. Here, we highlight the utilization of previously existing international research networks, especially in Latin America, through the “The Covid-19 HEalth caRe wOrkErS (HEROES) study”, an initiative in which we have participated (Mascayano et al., 2021; OPS, 2022). HEROES is a prospective multisite cohort study aimed at “assessing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of healthcare workers in 26 countries across 4 continents”. Initially designed and implemented primarily from Latin American countries, it involves the participation of a wide range of academic institutions, with support from the World Health Organization. Beyond its specific scientific purpose, we believe that its innovative approach, based on “cooperative leadership and principles of mutual learning”, aligns with an effort that contributes to “reinventing South-North collaborations and transforming the usual structures and power practices in Global Mental Health”.