The world is witnessing a severe mental health crisis. According to a report by the WHO, around 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and 38 million experience some kind of anxiety disorder. The country's mental health workforce is also gravely understaffed with there being a severe shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists compared to the number of people suffering from mental illness. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can prove to be a powerful tool in the fight against the mental health crisis. Reduces the burden on mental health professionals: AI can provide immense support to mental health professionals.

In December 2020 we announced the launch of our focus series AI for Good: UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). Each month we pick a different sustainable development goal (SDG) and highlight work in that area. Following a terrific response to our first focus on "good health and well-being", we bring you the first of our monthly summary articles where we provide a brief overview of the topic and some highlights from the series. With the COVID-19 pandemic dominating our lives at the moment, research relating to the disease has rightly received considerable coverage in our focus series. In partnership with CLAIRE's COVID-19 taskforce initiative we have brought you articles covering the formation of the taskforce, and about some of the research from the participants.