A Scoping Review of Learning Health System Approaches for Pediatric and Adolescent Mental Health, Neurological, and Substance Use Conditions

Historically, mental health has not been a priority in global health, and there was no official policy or recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO) prior to 2012. This status quo has been accelerated during the Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly (2012) when the WHO adopted resolution WHA65.4 (65th World Health Assembly Closes with New Global Health Measures, n.d.) on the “global burden of mental disorders and acknowledged the need for a comprehensive and coordinated response from health and social sectors at the country level”. This formal recognition of mental health as a global concern paved the way for the establishment of the Mental Health Plan 2013-2030 and the Integrated Operational Framework for mental health, brain health and substance use (2024). These two important documents outline specific targets, objectives, and implementation options for various actors, including member states, the WHO Secretariat, technocrats, and industry and community partners. Currently, there is limited and fragmented data on children and youth mental health and neurodevelopmental disease, such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and substance use. Therefore, it is crucial to have a centralized and standardized data collection and processing mechanism that can establish a Learning Health System to identify, baseline, correlate, and monitor health quality, mental health, and neurodevelopmental conditions in children and youth.