What you need to know:
- Uganda urged to invest in mental health as productivity losses mount.
Uganda loses an estimated Shs696 billion annually in productivity due to mental health challenges, with losses projected to reach nearly $5 billion by 2040 if the situation persists, the National Planning Authority (NPA) has warned.
The authority says 5,000 of the 9,661 established positions for mental health workers are vacant, raising concerns about the country’s capacity to provide timely care to people experiencing psychological distress.
Mr Hamis Mugendawala, the NPA director of population and social development planning, said some institutions had reported employees who continued reporting for duty but whose productivity had declined amid anxiety and other mental health challenges.
Mr Mugendawala was speaking during the Africa Summit on Suicide Prevention in Kampala on Thursday, where mental health challenges and their implications for individuals and the wider economy were discussed.
The NPA estimates that productivity losses associated with mental health challenges amount to Shs696 billion annually. It further projects that, if the situation persists, losses could reach $1.1 billion in the near future and nearly $5 billion by 2040.
“Productivity losses associated with mental health challenges are gradually increasing which underscores the wider implications of a problem that extends beyond hospitals and individual households,” Mr Mugendawala observed, adding: “Of the 121 surveyed health facilities, 60% of them reported of always running out of psychotropic medicines in a year.”
The State of Uganda Population Report 2025, launched in February 2026, indicates that recorded mental health cases increased by 71 per cent, from 494,326 in 2021 to 843,295 in 2024.
Mr Mugendawala said the figure for adults could be an underestimate because stigma may discourage people from acknowledging that they are experiencing mental health difficulties.
“Twenty-four per cent of adults in our country exhibited and agreed they have mental issues, but of course, this was also an understatement because of sometimes the stigma attached to acceptance that you have a mental issue,” he said.
He added that academic expectations and pressure were among the factors affecting children’s mental health.
“It was so concerning for children that 23 percent of children were found to be having mental health challenges and most of these are in schools, and they mentioned unrealistic academic expectations and pressures as one of the drivers of the condition,” he said.
Calls for legal reform
Aruu County MP Christopher Komakech, vice-chairperson of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Mental Health, said he had applied for an amendment to the Penal Code Act to remove provisions criminalising attempted suicide.
He argued that people who survive suicide attempts should be connected to medical and psychosocial support rather than face criminal punishment.
“As legislators, we have a responsibility to examine whether such provisions are consistent with a public health approach that seeks to save lives and encourage people in crisis to seek help. I have already applied for an amendment of the relevant provisions of the Penal Code Act to remove the criminalisation of attempted suicide,” Mr Komakech said.
He added: “It is about ensuring that when a person is in a suicidal crisis, our first response is to protect life, provide treatment and connect that person to support. This is not about condoning suicide.”
Mr Komakech called for stronger community-based prevention programmes and improved access to mental health services at regional referral hospitals, general hospitals and primary healthcare facilities to help address the crisis.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 720,000 people die by suicide globally every year. Suicide is also among the leading causes of death among young people aged 15 to 29. WHO estimates that 73 per cent of suicide deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
The burden in Africa remains significant. WHO estimates the suicide mortality rate in the African Region at approximately 11 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with a global rate of about nine deaths per 100,000.