Dr. Bashir Issak, Head of Family Health/MoH, X
The Ministry of Health has inaugurated an advisory committee to spearhead Kenya’s first National Baseline Mental Health Survey.
The committee, chaired by Director General for Health Dr. Patrick Amoth and represented at the launch by Dr. Bashir Issak, Head of Family Health, will guide the landmark initiative.
The survey is expected to generate Kenya’s first nationally representative data on mental health conditions.
Dr. Issak said the exercise addresses a long-standing gap. “The 2020 Taskforce on Mental Health highlighted the absence of comprehensive national statistics on prevalence, treatment gaps, and socio-economic determinants,” he said.
Amoth underscored the importance of the survey, noting that while Kenya has a mental health policy, progress has been limited.
“Implementation has been constrained by limited resources,” he said. He pointed to the 2021 Mental Health Investment Case, which emphasised the urgency of targeted funding to expand services and close the treatment gap.
The survey will provide national estimates, establish a baseline for monitoring progress, and inform future policy, resource allocation, and service delivery.
Officials said the findings will help design interventions that respond to the country’s mental health needs more effectively.
Senior health officials and mental health experts attended the launch. Among them were Ms. Khatra Ali, Director of Health Services; Dr. Mercy Karanja, Head of Mental Health at the Ministry of Health; and Prof. Lukoye Atwoli, Dean of the Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa.
The Ministry said the survey represents a critical step in strengthening mental health systems. It will also provide data to track Kenya’s progress in addressing treatment gaps and supporting communities living with mental health conditions.
The Kenya Mental Health Action Plan was launched in June 2021.
Dr. Mercy Mwangangi, who unveiled the 74-page document during the launch in 2021, pointed out that mental health remains an integral pillar in the country’s health system and social-economic development.
More than 1 billion people across the globe live with a mental health disorder, a report released in September 2025 revealed.
According to the updated 2022 report by the World Health Organisation: Transforming mental health for all, mental health conditions remain highly prevalent, with different mental disorders varying with sex, with females most affected overall.
The report noted that in both males and females, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders are the most common.
It stated that suicide affects people from all countries and contexts and is a major cause of death among young people.
“Globally, suicide accounts for more than one in every 100 deaths and for each death, there are 20 suicide attempts. Mental disorders account for one in twenty disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally,” the report noted.
