IMPACT's aims and objectives

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Comorbidity of physical and mental illness is a major cause of global disease burden, affecting some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in low and middle income countries (LMICs).

The University of York’s expertise in epidemiological and intervention research combined with our partners’ knowledge of health systems in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan will be harnessed with the following aims:

i. To improve health and reduce deaths associated with diabetes, heart and lung diseases in people with severe mental ill health by addressing the most common health risk behaviours.

ii. To reduce depression and anxiety in people with chronic physical health conditions.

This study will build sustainable world-class research teams and a regional hub to provide a platform for securing large-scale grants and responsive research programmes to address the critical lack of evidence on effective interventions for mental and physical multimorbidity.

In this 3-year Programme we will:

A. For people with severe mental ill health i) conduct a physical health survey and assemble a cohort of people who can be approached for future research, ii) design interventions aimed at changing health risk behaviours (tobacco, physical activity, alcohol and diet) based on a brief talking therapy.

B. For people with chronic physical disorders (e.g. diabetes, heart disease, hypertension), integrate the detection and treatment of depression/anxiety into an intervention package for chronic diseases delivered in primary care.

C. Build research teams and capacity to secure competitive funding and deliver world class applied health research informing policy and practice in these areas.