The epidemiology of child and adolescent mental health: advances, opportunities and obstacles \ud

[Extract] Child and adolescent mental health issues are increasingly becoming a focus of attention from both medical and societal perspectives. Prominent recent initiatives include the US Surgeon General's report on Children's Mental Health and the World Health Organization's annual world health reports focusing on mental health. In Australia the First and Second National Mental Health Plans have promoted a decade of significant mental health service development. Recent publication of the child and component of the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing will undoubtedly generate further interest in the area. It is therefore timely to consider the contribution that epidemiological studies may make to research and policy development in the child and adolescent (for brevity hereafter termed 'child') mental health field