The International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia (1965–1973) and the International Study of Schizophrenia (1991–1996), both conducted for the World Health Organization, are remembered today not only for their crucial role in the history of psychiatric epidemiology but also as a point of departure for the contemporary movement for global mental health.

In June 2024, the international workshop “Globalizing Schizophrenia: The History and Legacy of the WHO Schizophrenia Studies” brought together historians, philosophers, anthropologists, and psychiatrists to discuss both the achievements of the WHO studies on schizophrenia and their legacy. By linking the historical focus on the early days of psychiatric epidemiology with contemporary perspectives from anthropologists and psychiatrists, it generated a dialogue on the prospects of global mental healthcare as well as on the problems of a universal concept of schizophrenia independent of its context and external influences.