Mental Health, Lived Experience, and Community Engagement in Tropical Diseases

Tropical diseases, including neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), continue to disproportionately affect populations living in poverty and other structurally marginalized settings. While some progress has been achieved in biomedical prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, the broader psychosocial consequences of these diseases remain insufficiently addressed. Mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and social distress are common among people affected by tropical diseases, yet are rarely integrated into routine care, research agendas, or elimination strategies.This Research Topic aims to advance interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of tropical diseases, mental health, and community engagement. It brings together two closely connected themes: (1) the impact of tropical diseases on mental health, wellbeing, and social participation, and (2) the engagement and leadership of affected communities in addressing tropical diseases, not merely as beneficiaries, but as experts and co-creators of solutions.The first thematic focus explores the mental health and psychosocial impacts of tropical diseases across diverse contexts. We welcome contributions that examine lived experience, stigma, discrimination, and exclusion associated with tropical diseases, using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods approaches. Submissions may address the psychological consequences of delayed diagnosis, chronic morbidity, visible impairments, and long-term disability, as well as the effects on identity, family relationships, livelihoods, and community participation. We particularly encourage work that foregrounds the voices of persons affected, caregivers, and communities, and that examines intersections with gender, age, disability, poverty, and displacement. Innovative approaches to mental health support, stigma reduction, and psychosocial care in low-resource settings are also highly relevant.The second thematic focus centres on meaningful engagement and leadership of affected communities in research, programmes, and policy related to tropical diseases. Historically, many tropical disease responses have been dominated by top-down, biomedical models, with limited involvement of those most affected. This Research Topic seeks to highlight participatory, rights-based, and people-centred approaches in which individuals and communities affected by tropical diseases play active roles in shaping research questions, designing interventions, delivering services, and advocating for change. Contributions may include examples of community-led initiatives, peer-support models, participatory action research, storytelling and narrative-based methods, and co-production of knowledge and interventions.By bringing together mental health, lived experience, and community leadership, this Research Topic aims to promote a paradigm shift in tropical disease research and practice. Integrating psychosocial wellbeing and recognising affected communities as leaders are not only matters of equity and human rights, but also critical for sustainable control, elimination, and post-elimination surveillance. We invite original research articles, reviews, opinions, perspectives and policy analyses that contribute to more inclusive, ethical, and effective responses to tropical diseases. Topic editors: Laura Dean, Charles D Mackenzie Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78056/mental-health-lived-experience-and-community-engagement-in-tropical-diseases