Groundbreaking International Partnership Launches Major Initiative to Transform Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Brazil

São Paulo, Brazil — A powerful Brazilian-led coalition, anchored by the University of São Paulo’s Center for Research and Innovation in Mental Health (CISM) and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) in partnership with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute, announced a transformative initiative to address the severe youth mental health crisis in the country.

The partnership is backed by a co-investment of approximately 22.8 million BRL (around 4.38 million USD) split equally between FAPESP and the SNF Global Center. This funding is a major expansion of CISM’s work establishing a new research module there dedicated to advancing science, data infrastructure, and care delivery for children and young people in Brazil.

“This is a historic opportunity to change the trajectory of youth mental health in Brazil,” says Eurípedes Constantino Miguel, MD, PhD, Principal Investigator of CISM, psychiatrist, and professor at the University of São Paulo. “We are moving beyond isolated studies to create an integrated, data-driven ecosystem—from population-level mapping to neuroscience to front-line care delivery within Brazil’s Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). This module will provide the evidence and tools our policymakers and clinicians desperately need.”

The initiative confronts a dire national reality: over 80 percent of Brazilian youth with mental health needs lack adequate care. And the country lacks the nationally representative data required to guide effective public policy and service planning, particularly for historically underserved communities. Addressing this gap also requires approaches that meaningfully engage young people themselves in shaping solutions that reflect their lived experiences and local contexts.

Building an integrated ecosystem for change

The new research module is designed to tackle this crisis by building a comprehensive pipeline from discovery to real-world implementation within São Paulo’s public outpatient mental health network (SUS).

In Brazil, this work is closely connected to youth-centered engagement through the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative (CAMHI) Brazil, a locally rooted initiative of the SNF Global Center that elevates young people as active contributors to mental health solutions.

Through CAMHI Brazil, youth perspectives help inform priorities, shape culturally responsive approaches, and strengthen the relevance of research, training, and implementation efforts, ensuring that advances in science translate into meaningful impact for Brazilian children and young people.

To address the absence of foundational national data, SNF Global Center in partnership with CISM will launch Brazil’s first large-scale, population-representative epidemiological survey of youth mental health.

Critically, the program is built to ensure that discoveries reach those who need them most, countering the severe lack of access to evidence-based care in the public system. It will actively implement and scale proven treatments within São Paulo’s network of public outpatient mental health clinics (Ambulatórios de Saúde Mental).

Finally, to build sustainable capacity, the initiative will establish a new Center of Excellence in Data Science and Implementation. This hub will train researchers and clinicians in Brazil and Mozambique, fostering vital South-South and North-South collaboration.

A strategic partnership for global impact

“This partnership represents a monumental step toward health equity,” says Zeina Mneimneh, Vice President of Global Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Interventions at the SNF Global Center. By combining CISM’s deep understanding of Brazil’s public health landscape with the SNF Global Center’s innovative tools and methodologies, we are building a scalable model rooted in local reality. Our goal is to generate the robust data and effective interventions needed to transform care for young people in Brazil and create a blueprint for other nations.”

The investment marks a landmark moment for Brazilian science and public health, directly aligning national research excellence with the urgent need to build a more effective and equitable mental health system for all young Brazilians. By generating actionable data, deploying cutting-edge science, and investing in local talent, this collaboration aims to create a lasting legacy of improved mental health care, better-informed policy, and hope for future generations.

About the Center for Research and Innovation in Mental Health (CISM)

CISM is a national research center led by the University of São Paulo (USP) in partnership with UNIFESP, UFRGS, and municipal governments, and co-funded by FAPESP. Its mission is to advance mental health science and ensure discoveries translate into real-world impact for underserved communities.

About FAPESP

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public foundation dedicated to supporting scientific and technological research in all fields of knowledge in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

About the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute

The SNF Global Center brings together the Child Mind Institute’s expertise as a leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)’s deep commitment to supporting collaborative projects to improve access to quality health care worldwide. The center is building partnerships to drive advances in under-researched areas of children and adolescents’ mental health, and expand access to culturally appropriate training, resources, and treatment in low- and middle-income countries. This work is conducted by the Child Mind Institute with support from SNF through its Global Health Initiative (GHI).

About the Child Mind Institute

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We’ve become the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health by providing gold-standard, evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments.