The Friendship Bench

Globally, more than 300 million people suffer from depression, according to the World Health Organization. Depression is the world's leading cause of disability and it contributes to 800,000 suicides per year, the majority of which occur in developing countries. Yet those suffering from depression have few options due to a dearth of mental health professionals. In brainstorming how to tackle this problem, Dixon Chibanda, director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative, arrived at an unlikely solution. Since 2006, Chibanda and his team have trained over 400 grandmothers in evidence-based talk therapy, which they deliver for free in more than 70 communities in Zimbabwe. The method has been empirically vetted and has been expanded to countries beyond, including the US.

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