Introduction
Welcome to the WHO Mental Health Platform documentation. This platform is a cost-effectiveness analysis tool for mental health interventions, designed for health economists and policy makers working on mental health programs.
About the WHO Mental Health Platform
The WHO Mental Health Platform is a web-based tool developed for the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Use (MSD). It enables cost-effectiveness analysis of mental health interventions across five conditions:
- Anxiety Disorders
- Bipolar Disorder
- Depression
- Epilepsy
- Psychosis
You can configure country-specific parameters, edit assumptions about epidemiology and costs, and view comprehensive results including health impacts, costs, and resource requirements.
Key Features
Editable Assumptions: Review and modify all input parameters including epidemiology, intervention effects, and costs before running analyses.
Comprehensive Results: View health impact (cases averted, DALYs, deaths), costs, and resource utilization. Cost-effectiveness ratios are upcoming.
Evidence-Based Models: All models are based on published epidemiological data, clinical trial evidence, and WHO treatment guidelines.
About This Documentation
This documentation is organized into the following sections:
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Using the Platform Step-by-step guide to running analyses, editing assumptions, and interpreting results. Start here if you want to use the tool.
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Mental Health Models Detailed documentation of each mental health model including health states, transitions, interventions, and data sources.
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Data Sources Information about the epidemiological data, cost data, and intervention efficacy evidence used in the models.
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Technical Details Technical documentation on compartmental modeling, the execution architecture, and model file formats.
Getting Started
New Users: Start with Using the Platform to learn how to run your first analysis.
Model Details: Explore the specific mental health models to understand their structure and evidence base.
Technical Users: Review How Models Work for implementation details and modeling methodology.
About the Models
These models use compartmental modeling approaches to simulate how populations move between different health states over time. Each model captures:
- Natural disease progression (incidence, remission, relapse)
- Intervention effects on transitions (e.g., improved remission rates with treatment)
- Health outcomes (prevalence, DALYs, mortality)
- Resource utilization (healthcare workforce, medicines, facility visits)
- Costs (treatment costs, system costs)
Models are parameterized with country-specific demographic and epidemiological data, allowing for tailored cost-effectiveness analyses in different settings.