WHO: Africa’s Mental Health Spending Lags Global Average As 150m People Need Care
Nearly 150 million people across Africa live with mental health, neurological or substance use conditions, yet governments in the region spend an average of just US$0.07 per person on mental health, compared with US$2.69 globally.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Janabi, disclosed this in his message to mark World Mental Health Day 2026, observed under the theme, “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change.”
Janabi said the figures exposed the urgent need to put people living with mental health conditions at the centre of decisions on policies and services that affect them.
He noted that conditions including depression, anxiety and alcohol and substance use disorders affect individuals, families and communities across the continent, while stigma, discrimination and limited access to care continue to prevent many people from seeking or receiving help.
According to him, only seven of the 47 countries in the WHO African Region are currently implementing comprehensive mental health integration into primary healthcare.
He called for people with lived experience to move beyond simply sharing their stories and become active participants in developing policies, designing services and strengthening peer-led initiatives.
“Listening must lead to participation,” Janabi said, stressing that lived experience, combined with clinical and public health expertise, could make mental health services more responsive and accountable.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa has already begun incorporating lived experience into its programmes, with people directly affected by mental health conditions serving as key facilitators in regional webinars and inter-country learning meetings in South Africa and Togo.
Janabi also cited the recently published Mental Health in Africa Investment Case, which advocates stronger community-based services, protection of human rights and greater involvement of service users, while placing mental health integration into primary healthcare at the heart of universal health coverage.
He urged African governments to establish formal and sustained mechanisms for lived experience participation, increase mental health financing and bring compassionate, rights-based care closer to communities.
“Real voices can drive real change,” Janabi said, calling for mental health systems to be built with the people who use them and shaped around the realities of their lives.
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