Africa’s Mental Health Emergency

New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast

Dr. Olayinka Omigbodun addresses Africa’s urgent youth mental health crisis amid economic and social challenges.

It is trite, but true that youth are our future. Unfortunately, what is also true is that in most countries the mental health of young people has been declining over the past two decades, a decline that seems to have accelerated during and after COVID. Globally, one in seven 10 to 19-year-olds reportedly experience mental disorders. In turn, depression, anxiety, and behavioral issues are among the leading causes of illness, disability, and even suicide among adolescents.
What’s true globally is even more the case in Africa where 60% of people are under 24, and too many are victims of a witch's brew of climate shock, inflation, economic mismanagement, war, gang violence, epidemics, and other disasters. The resulting high incidence of youth with serious and enduring mental health disorders not only mortgages their own futures, but their countries' futures as well.
What can be done? Are there adequate resources, medical professionals, hospitals, and targeted programs focused on the challenges of youth mental health? Is there a real urgency among policymakers to address the problems?
Dr. Olayinka Omigbodun founded the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria where today she is Provost of the College of Medicine, the first woman to hold that position. She has devoted her life to trying to answer those and other questions about adolescent mental health.