Page 33 - GHES-3-2

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability
Financing mental health reforms in Africa

health awareness, particularly among youth predisposed to sector participation, and governance for UHC. Closing
increased challenges and whose attitudes are more pliable by these gaps could create space and drive real change in the
dispelling misconceptions and demystifying mental illness. health sector. The SSA, including Uganda, must learn
Their framework also includes (2) promoting social contact from successful contexts that could serve as models. The
through the delivery of testimonies by individuals who have Benelux countries, Italy, Scandinavian countries, Singapore,
lived the experience offering their experiential wisdom in and the United Kingdom have successfully implemented
challenging stigma to a target community, (3) advocacy financing reforms to provide actionable insights and inspire
by influential figures or groups, and (4) legislation of anti- valuable potential pathways for mental health reform. The
discriminatory laws. Finally, interest must be garnered in challenge is to attain national adoption of such models in
needs and support for care through stakeholder analysis the face of poor funding and infrastructure. Given the
and mobilizing opportunities for change. For example, the much-needed investment in many SSA countries on health,
Ugandan civil society is noted as having low levels of interest urgent action is needed to prioritize financing mental health
in mental health services compared to international agencies. reforms, enhance fiscal space for health, and support from
This situation contrasts Ethiopia, South Africa, and Nepal stakeholders to provide lower-cost financing and grants. The
(Makan et al., 2015). financing pressures on health could transform into a mental

A policy framework could be implemented to track health crisis with fundamental implications for socio-
mental health investments with a marker for countries development and missing opportunities for achieving UHC.
to monitor and evaluate progress toward the established Thus, the global community must act to avoid this outcome.
benchmarks. Despite the uniqueness of each country that
enables its socioeconomic development path, a framework Acknowledgments
for implementing the suggested reforms would encompass We would like to acknowledge the essential contributions
a similar process. Such a process would support analytical made by many individuals from the Gudie University Project,
and technical health financing efforts, informed dialogues, Life Back Foundation, and Scott College of Nursing. Without
evidence-based policy decisions, awareness campaign drives, their support, none of this could have been achieved.
associated administrative and institutional strategic actions,
and multi-sector involvement. Urban healthcare must be Funding
analyzed differently from rural settings, as the context, None.
interventions, patterns of care, and performance indicators
vary (Perkins et al., 2019). First, this policy would determine Conflict of interest
prospects for improved mental health mainstreaming,
inspiring the inclusion of mental health objectives or indicators The authors declare no conflict of interest.
within projects that may not have otherwise included Author contributions
them, undoubtedly marking direct mental health projects.
Second, it would advance accountability and transparency. Conceptualization: Emmanuel Otieno, Jeninah Businge
A similar marker or methodology could track cross-sectoral Writing – original draft: Emmanuel Otieno
mental health financing changes from development actors Writing – review & editing: All authors
and inspire its expansion. Third, governments must foster
lasting support networks such as reinforcing responsible Ethics approval and consent to participate
gambling for health and conducting facility outreaches for Not applicable.
realistic financial ceilings in budgeting to meet the increasing
demand. Such a roadmap for the health landscape underlines Consent for publication
the transformative power of targeted policy reforms. Finally,
to engage in effective policy solutions, policymakers must be Not applicable.
clear on the political aspects that may negatively affect such Availability of data
reforms, thus gaining political buy-in to achieve sustainable
investment cases for mental health care. Not applicable.
5. Conclusion References

We suggest mobilizing a set of actions across multiple Arias, D., Saxena, S., & Verguet, S. (2022). Quantifying the global
stakeholders, including fiscal expansion strategy, health burden of mental disorders and their economic value.
insurance coverage, statutory mental health levies, EClinicalMedicine, 54:101675.
multisectoral approaches, stakeholder analysis, private https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101675

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 25 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3700