About us

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with the incidence of depression peaking during adolescence. Depression affects cognitive functioning, interpersonal relationships, interferes with schooling, and disrupts work and productivity. Untreated depression can have serious consequences, as it is associated with more than 90% of all cases of suicide, which has recently been recognized as the second largest and fastest growing cause of unnatural deaths among young people in South Africa (SADAG, 2014). These impairments have a greater impact on adolescents in low- and middle-income countries due to the additional adversities they face and the lack of available, effective treatments.

This three year project will focus on developing an intervention in an understudied group, adolescents with depression in low-resource settings. Relying on digital technology and aligning this with the evolving community-oriented primary care system, we will use low-end smartphones to adapt and deliver a tailored psychological therapy, Behavioural Activation (BA), among adolescents (15 to 19 years old) living in rural South Africa.