(Commonwealth)_ Good mental health is an indicator of successful populations and an important facilitator of sustainable development. At will, a menacing silent crisis is sweeping thousands of youth and is deep-rooted in the sub-Saharan African continent. Published figures indicate up to one out of seven youths on the continent suffer from severe mental illness, the most prevalent being depression and anxiety.
The gravity of the problem is compounded by massive unemployment, traditional cultural thinking, and blatant social stigmatization, deterring young people from seeking recourse from them. Spurred by the immense mandate to respond, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the East, Central, and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) have joined hands in an attempt to push forward an expanded strategy for the development of mental health care services among young people in the region.
The ECSA-Commonwealth Youth Mental Health Project, initiated in November 2024, runs to December 2026. The project will work towards bridging systematic gaps in mental health policy, funding, and services and placing young people at the forefront of the solutions. The project is a reflection of a long-term commitment to mindset change, in which young people’s mental health is imagined, protected, and nurtured in sub-Saharan Africa.
The two organizations conducted an August 2025 policy dialogue in the context of the Best Practices Forum in Mauritius, where policymakers and young leaders from Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe were brought together. The discussion prompted the group to reconsider existing youth mental health policies, and a mark was made on the gap between existing policies, funding, health systems, and what is actually available for young people.
Young people expressed strong views on mental health strategies. They supported high-priority legislative and national action policies for mental health, long-term funding for services aimed at young people, and a greater emphasis on prevention and early intervention, particularly in schools and neighborhoods. The forums emphasized that young people are not passive recipients of care but active agents for change, who develop policies and programs that directly impact their lives.
The conversation also resulted in the identification of four transformation pillars designed to support the advancement of this project and future initiatives:
Governance and Leadership: Providing young people with opportunities to lead and influence policies and programs that affect themselves and others in similar situations.
Integrated Service Delivery: Delivering mental health services as accessible, coordinated, and person-centered.
Community Prevention and Resilience: Strengthening communities to recognize mental health issues early, reduce stigmatization, and build hope from the grassroots.
Youth-Centric Partnership: Establishing partnerships that empower youth to actively participate in decision-making and action, rather than simply being heard.
Such foundations emphasize the transformative potential of youth to improve mental health care and stress that optimal outcomes depend on their active participation. The conclusions of these consultations are being integrated into preparing a Regional Youth Mental Health Framework. A technical working group is composing the framework for discussion in a wider consultation during the ECSA-HC Ministerial meeting in February 2026.
The ECSA-Commonwealth Youth Mental Health Project also aims to create a Youth Mental Health Wing, launch the ECSA College for Mental Health Services, and establish a Regional Centre of Excellence in mental health. All these projects aim to enhance service delivery, develop professional competence, and achieve youth mental health improvements that can benefit the region.
The project was initiated by taking seriously the mental health realities of young adults aged 18–29, challenges and possibilities that have shaped the design of the project. Future stages of the project include additional intergenerational conversation and webinars to help guarantee that lived experience continues to inform policy recommendations and programming.
By putting young people at the forefront of policy development and service provision and giving voice to them in policy and service provision, the ECSA-Commonwealth Youth Mental Health Project is tracing a way towards creating lasting change. Not only does the project intend to improve mental health outcomes among young people but also resilience and developmental possibility in sub-Saharan African society.
