SUMMARY
More than 2·5 billion children and adolescents exist worldwide, with most individuals living in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).1 For these children and adolescents, mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders remain one of the leading causes of the global burden of disease and years lived with disability.2 Although the importance of child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) has been widely acknowledged by organisations such as the UN,3 the development of an inclusive cross-sectorial mental health system for children and adolescents has not gained adequate traction.