Nearly 150 million people across Africa are living with mental health, neurological or substance-use conditions, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has disclosed, with Nigeria accounting for an estimated 20 million people living with mental health conditions.
The Nigerian figure, reported in 2025, represents about 20 per cent of the country’s population and roughly 13 per cent of the nearly 150 million people affected across Africa. However, the figures cover slightly different categories of conditions and should not be treated as a precise country-by-country breakdown of the continental estimate.
The WHO also said thousands of people affected across the continent are unable to obtain the care and support they need, while stigma and discrimination continue to create major barriers to seeking help.
In Nigeria, available reports indicate that only about 10 per cent of people living with mental illness have access to care, highlighting the country’s significant treatment gap.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Janabi, disclosed the continental figure in his message to mark World Mental Health Day 2026, observed under the theme, “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change.”
Janabi said mental health affects virtually every aspect of life, including how people learn, work, relate with others and contribute to their communities.
He identified depression, anxiety disorders, and alcohol and other substance-use disorders among conditions affecting individuals, families and communities across the African Region.
The WHO Regional Director expressed concern that despite the scale of the challenge, many people still cannot obtain the care and support they require.
He called for people directly affected by mental health conditions to play a stronger role in shaping policies and services designed to support them.
According to him, their experiences can expose gaps in existing services and help policymakers understand what forms of assistance are effective while ensuring that care respects the dignity and rights of those affected.
“For too long, individuals have been invited to share their personal stories but excluded from the decisions that follow. Listening must lead to participation,” Janabi said.
He said people with lived experience should be involved in developing policies, designing services and strengthening peer-led initiatives, adding that their insights, alongside clinical and public health expertise, could make mental health care more responsive and accountable.
Janabi said WHO was working to create more opportunities for such participation across the African Region.
He noted that people with lived experience had served as key facilitators in WHO’s Regional Mental Health Webinar Series and Mental Health Intercountry Learning Meetings held in South Africa and Togo.
The initiatives, he said, were organised in collaboration with the Pan African Network of People with Psychosocial Disabilities, Aves Mental Health and United for Global Mental Health.
He added that the same approach was reflected in the recently published Mental Health in Africa Investment Case by the WHO Regional Office for Africa, which advocates stronger community-based services, protection of human rights and sustained involvement of people who use mental health services.
The investment case also places the integration of mental health into primary healthcare at the centre of efforts to achieve universal health coverage.
Janabi, however, said significant gaps remained across the region.
He disclosed that only seven of the 47 countries in the WHO African Region were implementing comprehensive mental health integration into primary care.
He further said average government expenditure on mental health stood at only US$0.07 per person, compared with US$2.69 globally.
According to him, mental healthcare is also often fragmented or concentrated in major urban centres, leaving many communities without adequate support close to home.
“Addressing these challenges will require stronger national leadership and increased, sustained financing,” he said.
Janabi urged member states to establish formal and sustained mechanisms for the participation of people with lived experience in mental health policy and service development.
He also called on health professionals, civil society organisations and development partners to support the leadership of people with lived experience and help bring compassionate mental healthcare closer to communities.
“As WHO, we are committed to working alongside Member States and communities to expand accessible and rights-based care throughout the Region,” he said.
“Real voices can drive real change. Together, we can build mental health systems with those who use them, and ensure they respond optimally to the lives people lead.”
