The Wellcome Trust has awarded a three‑year grant to ALIVE 2.0: Improving Adolescent Menta Health by reducing the Impact of poVErty: Effectiveness trial in South Africa. The award will support a comprehensive programme of research and intervention development aimed at reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety among young people in low resource settings, while addressing the poverty‑related factors that contribute to poor mental health.
Building on the foundations of ALIVE 1.0, the new phase will work closely with adolescents with lived experience to deliver and evaluate a four‑arm cluster randomised controlled trial across public schools in the Western Cape. The interventions will target key mechanisms underlying adolescent mental health: self‑regulation; poverty‑related deprivations; and a combined intervention addressing both pathways. All arms include caregiver sessions to strengthen co‑regulation and parental support.
The study will assess the cost‑effectiveness of these approaches in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms, improving emotion regulation, and mitigating poverty‑related outcomes. By generating rigorous, policy‑relevant evidence, ALIVE 2.0 aims to inform scalable prevention strategies that can be integrated within public school systems to improve adolescent mental health and economic well‑being.
Commenting on the award, Professor Crick Lund, co-principal investigator, said:
“After five years of intervention and instrument development in the ALIVE programme, we are very excited to be moving to the next stage, to conduct a large cluster randomized trial to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of interventions that address the social determinants of mental health among adolescents living in circumstances of urban poverty in South Africa. It’s a privilege to be working with this amazing team.”
Reflecting about the ambitions of ALIVE 2.0, Professor Mark Jordans, co-principal investigator, added:
“We are very excited to continue the ALIVE study. We hope it can contribute to better understanding of what works in preventing depression and anxiety amongst adolescents, in our case by bringing together mental health and economic intervention strategies.”
The Centre for Global Mental Health warmly congratulates the ALIVE team on this award and looks forward to supporting the next phase of this ambitious and impactful work.
