As the government has raised its attention on the public mental health, on July 7, 2002 the Chinese Ministry of Health approved the establishment of the National Center for Mental Health, China-CDC affiliated with the IMH.

Since 2002, the IMH has contributed academic insight and support in various important regulations and rules in the field of mental health. In order to provide better support for public mental health services and research, the IMH integrated internal resources and established the department of public health. Since 2004, the National Center for Mental Health has been carrying out the project “government-supplemented treatment for local severe mental disorders,” the largest project on mental health service reform. The center has been taking the responsibility of the study design, study organization, training, coordination, and evaluation. The aim is to develop the concept of patient-center mental health services, form the hospital-based mental health services in communities, reinforce the development of local mental health services, and include severe psychiatric disorders into basic public health services. In addition, the center has collaborated with researchers from the United States, Australia, Norway, the United Nations, WHO, and the World Psychiatric Association, and made great contributions in response to crises during recent years.