Mental health disorders like depression and anxiety are common and significantly impact wellbeing, yet mental healthcare remains underfunded in low-income countries. Psychotherapy is an effective treatment that can be delivered cheaply by lay counsellors. This in-depth report evaluates the cost-effectiveness of two charities providing such therapy in Africa: Friendship Bench and StrongMinds. We estimate that Friendship Bench has a cost-effectiveness of 49 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated ($21 per WELLBY), and StrongMinds has a cost-effectiveness of 40 WELLBYs per $1,000 ($25 per WELLBY). Our results show that both charities are 5-6 times more cost-effective than cash transfers at improving subjective wellbeing. This is the fourth iteration of our analysis, which includes new data and refined methods. Our results are similar to the last version of the report, and we conclude that these two organisations are the most cost-effective charities (which are also well-evidenced) we have evaluated to date.
Michael Plant
Iron deficiency may be a major contributing factor to mental illnesses such as depression. In this shallow exploration, we evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Fortify Health's work to address mass scale iron-deficiency anemia in India.​ Read the report to discover what effect adding a small amount of iron to wheat flour may have on happiness.
In November 2023, we published Version 3 of our psychotherapy analysis. This was a working report in which we estimated the effects of psychotherapy in low- and middle-income countries, as well as the cost-effectiveness of two psychotherapy charities: StrongMinds and Friendship Bench. In the first part of 2024, we have updated several parts of the analysis. This present, interim report, Version 3.5, describes the changes we have made so far. Our analysis suggests that both StrongMinds and Friendship Bench are among the most cost-effective charities we have evaluated to date. Friendship Bench has a cost-effectiveness of 53 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated and StrongMinds has a cost-effectiveness of 47 WELLBYs per $1,000 donated.
We are pleased to share a new joint working paper between HLI and the Wellbeing Research Centre, Oxford University. In it, Dr Michael Plant explores the challenges of the nature and plausibility of the life satisfaction theory (LST) of wellbeing.
By: Michael Plant
In this substantial update to our work on psychotherapy we conduct a systematic review, a meta-analysis, and cost-effectiveness analyses of two charities who deliver psychotherapy (StrongMinds and Friendship Bench). This is a working report that will be updated over time, results may change.