After undergoing an eight-week interpersonal psychotherapy for groups (IPT-G) counselling program, over 11,000 Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) are now depression-free. The counselling programme is run by Mental Health Facilitators (MHF) from CIDRZ in collaboration with Psychologists from Strong Minds Zambia.

CIDRZ, through the USAID Controlling HIV Epidemic for Key and Underserved Populations (CHEKUP) I project in partnership with Strong Minds Zambia used an evidence-based, WHO-approved tool to screen for depression among AGYW in the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, Safe (DREAMS) program.

About 11,396 (80%) women and girls demonstrated symptoms of moderate to severe depression after scoring between 10-27 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). They were then invited and enrolled to participate in group therapy talks which lasted for an hour and half each week for eight weeks.

“Under the guidance of the trained MHFs, group members identified triggers for their depression, shared strategies to overcome these triggers and built long-term resilience.” Bwalya Mushiki, one of the programme implementors from CIDRZ explained.

Bwalya highlighted that from the counselling programme, it was evident that the burden of mental health challenges is high among adolescent girls and young women. She emphasized the importance of integrating mental health services is vital for AGYW to live optimal healthy lives.

Bwalya was speaking during her poster presentation at the recently held 2023 International Workshop on HIV and Adolescence at Lusaka’s Pamodzi Hotel.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 1 in every 7 adolescents between 10 to 19 years is affected by unrecognized and untreated mental health challenges.