Prevention of common mental disorders, particularly major depression, represents one of the grand challenges in global mental health (grandchallengesinglobalMH@NIH.org). Meta-analyses of more than 30 randomized trials conducted in the High Income Countries show that the incidence of new depressive and anxiety disorders can be reduced by 25–50 % over 1–2 years, compared to usual care, through the use of learning-based psychotherapies (such as interpersonal psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and problem solving therapy) [1, 2]. In addition, a recent study, the MANAS trial (“project to promote mental health” in the Konkani language), conducted in Goa, India, demonstrated that the use of lay health counselors, as part of a collaborative stepped-care intervention, not only increased recovery rates from common mental disorders (anxiety and depression) in a mixed aged sample of patients attending public primary care facilities [3] but also reduced the incidence of common mental disorders in those presenting initially with subsyndromal symptoms of depression and anxiety. The MANAS trial was particularly important from the perspective of workforce issues. That is, given the shortage of mental health specialists in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), MANAS demonstrated the advantage of task shifting, that is, the rational redistribution of tasks among health workforce teams in order to make more efficient use of lay and professional human resources.