Calls to a clinic in Uganda are helping create a therapy algorithm that works in local languages, as specialists look to technology to address the global mental health crisis

When patients telephone Butabika hospital in Kampala, Uganda, seeking help with mental health problems, they are themselves assisting future patients by helping to create a therapy chatbot.

Calls to the clinic helpline are being used to train an AI algorithm that researchers hope will eventually power a chatbot offering therapy in local African languages.