Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and accounts for about 40% of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to mental and substance use disorders. Present estimates suggest that the prevalence of depression in India is 2.7%, and the treatment gap stands at 85%.

Implementation of Evidence-Based Facility and Community Interventions to Reduce Treatment Gap for Depression (IMPRESS) aims to reduce this treatment gap by addressing both supply and demand side barriers by combing two strategies previously developed by Sangath. The supply-side will be targeted by scaling up the Healthy Activity Program (HAP), a manualised psychological treatment based on behavioural activation, which was shown to reduce symptom severity and increase remission among participants with depression in Sangath’s PREMIUM study. A part of the PREMIUM study was the VISHRAM program, which was a community-based mental health intervention with a gal to increase mental health demand through the enhancement of mental health literacy. IMPRESS builds on the work done previously in the PREMIUM study and the VISHRAM program.