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Panel Discussions

Interventions and Care Delivery Models in the Context of Resource Limitations

Health for All in Africa: From Roundtable to Roadmap for a Trans-African CBT Regional Association

Panel Discussion 11 - Health for All in Africa: From Roundtable to Roadmap for a Trans-african CBT Regional Association

Saturday, June 27, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM PDT
Location: Yerba Buena Salon 1, B3 Level
Earn 1.5 Credit
Keywords: African Americans / Black Americans, CBT, Global Mental Health
Level of Familiarity: Basic
Recommended Readings: Murray, L. K., Tol, W., Jordans, M., Sabir, G., Amin, A. M., Bolton, P., Bass, J., Bonilla-Escobar, F. J., & Thornicroft, G. (2014). Dissemination and implementation of evidence based, mental health interventions in post conflict, low resource settings. Intervention: Journal of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Affected Areas, 12(4), 94–112. https://doi.org/10.1097/WTF.0000000000000070.,   Barbui, C., Purgato, M., Churchill, R., Adams, C. E., Amato, L., Macdonald, G., McCleery, J., Minozzi, S., & Sheriff, R. S. (2017). Evidence-based interventions for global mental health: role and mission of a new Cochrane initiative. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2017(4), ED000120. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.ED000120,   Chibanda, D., Abas, M., Musesengwa, R., Merritt, C., Sorsdahl, K., Mangezi, W., Bandawe, C., Cowan, F., Araya, R., Gomo, E., Gibson, L., Weiss, H., Hanlon, C., & Lund, C. (2020). Mental health research capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa: the African Mental Health Research Initiative. Global Mental Health, 7(e8), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2019.32.,   ,  
Access to evidence-based psychological care across many African settings is limited by workforce shortages, weak training and supervision systems, uneven accreditation pathways, and the need for culturally grounded adaptation. WCCBT’s mission is to expand access to high-quality CBT through partnerships, and establishing a sustainable regional CBT association in Africa is a strategic priority. Building on the WCCBT–WHO Africa CBT Development Roundtable, this action-oriented panel translates “Health for All” into a clear roadmap for a Trans-African CBT workforce and regional association.
The panel will outline WCCBT’s priorities for dissemination evidence-based mental health and sustainable capacity building in Africa, feasibility findings from the KOLABO project; and WHO work on scalable psychological interventions and implementation, noting both challenges and successes. Leaders from CBT initiatives in Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe will share country snapshots—what’s working, what’s hard, and where partners are needed—highlighting culturally responsive training, local-language resources, community-delivered CBT-informed support, and strategies to strengthen African research.
Discussion will be structured around four pillars (service infrastructure; policy alignment; workforce training/supervision; cultural adaptation) and five guiding questions: (1) governance and representation; (2) scaling training and supervision (blended learning, train-the-trainer, task-sharing with supervised non-specialists) with competency standards and feasible, portable accreditation (including WHO/UNICEF EQUIP); (3) stepped-care (stepping up intensity) and digital delivery to extend reach while protecting quality and complementing specialist CBT; (4) addressing barriers such as financing, stigma, and limited outcome monitoring; and (5) partnerships with ministries, universities, NGOs, and communities to embed CBT in primary care and policy. The session concludes with audience Q&A and concrete outputs—actionable commitments and a 12-month collaboration plan.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify core components of a Trans-African CBT workforce roadmap (governance, standards, supervision, and implementation partnerships).
  • Identify scalable training and supervision approaches using competency-based methods (including WHO/UNICEF EQUIP tools).
  • Compare stepped-care/task-sharing and digital delivery models with safeguards for quality and specialist CBT support