StrongMinds

Contributor to the global burden of disease.

Overview

Most African governments spend less than 1% of their health budget on mental illness. Today in Uganda there are approximately 20 psychologists in a country of close to 35 million people. An equivalent ratio in the west would be 3500 psychologists for a similar population. StrongMinds is working to provide innovative and cost effective solutions at scale to treat those who do not have access to services and to reduce this accessibility gap in mental health treatment. StrongMinds will initially treat depression using group interpersonal psychotherapy (G IPT) which is fundamentally small group talk therapy that helps participants modify their behavior. It experiences an astounding 90% success rate in eliminating common depression disorders and has been validated in Africa by researchers from Johns Hopkins and Columbia Universities.