Integrating a Stepped Care Model of Screening and Treatment for Depression Into Malawi's National HIV Care Delivery Platform

Malawi is a low-income country in sub-Saharan Africa that has limited resources to address a significant burden of disease-including HIV/AIDS. Additionally, depression is a leading cause of disability in the country but largely remains undiagnosed and untreated. Lack of cost-effective, scalable solutions is a fundamental barrier to expanding depression treatment. Against this backdrop, one major success has been the scale-up of a network of more than 700 HIV clinics, with over half a million patients enrolled in ART. As a chronic care system with dedicated human resources and infrastructure, this presents a strategic platform for integrating depression care, and responds to a robust evidence base outlining the bi-directionality of depression and HIV outcomes. The investigators will evaluate a stepped model of depression care that combines group-based Problem Management Plus (group PM+) with antidepressant therapy (ADT) for 420 adults with moderate/severe depression in Neno District, Malawi, as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Rollout will follow a stepped-wedge cluster randomized design in which 14 health facilities are randomized to implement the model in five steps over a 15-month period. Primary outcomes (depression symptoms, functional impairment, and overall health) and secondary outcomes (e.g. HIV: viral load, ART adherence; diabetes: A1C levels, treatment adherence; hypertension: systolic blood pressure, treatment adherence) will be measured every three months through 12-month follow-up. The investigators will also evaluate the model's cost-effectiveness, quantified as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) compared to baseline chronic care services in the absence of the intervention model. This study will conduct a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial to compare the effects of an evidence-based depression care model versus usual care on depression symptom remediation as well as physical health outcomes for chronic care cond