The Lancet Perspectives

28 May 2021

Infant mental health in southern Africa: nurturing a field

Authors: Anusha Lachman, Astrid Berg, Fiona Ross, Michelle Pentecost

The promotion of early cognitive and emotional development is a core aim of the field of infant mental health (IMH). Yet models of early development and IMH have often been developed for high-income settings, and sometimes carry under-examined assumptions about care and wellbeing. Although this discipline is well established in Euro–American contexts, questions have been raised about how to tailor it to contexts that may differ considerably from those in which these models were developed. The ways that care, attachment, and relationship are given form in everyday practices are not universally the same, raising the challenge of shaping therapeutic models and interventions so as to ask appropriate questions, design context-sensitive interventions, and meet caregivers and infants in ways that are meaningful to them while still retaining general applicability. 

Read the full article here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00998-3/fulltext