USAID, Uganda together with Non-governmental organization Strong Minds Uganda have entered a partnership to push mental health advocacy and services across the country.
Speaking to the press after signing a memorandum of understanding, Daniele Nyiranduyite USAID, Uganda mission director says mental health is fundamental to achieving development objectives and should be addressed comprehensively.
In the agreement the 2 will work to increase local capacity to provide community based mental health services as well as improve mental wellbeing for Ugandans among others.
By combining efforts, they hope to increase the impact and efficiency of their achievements in mental health and thus better more sustainable development outcomes as well as foster Cross sectoral, Public-Private collaboration on Mental health throughout Uganda.
“Since Covid 19 we can no longer be ignorant of the impact of mental health can have on our economy or development, we need to normalize talking about mental health so that when people see the signs they know where to seek help” said Nyiranduyite USAID.
According to the Ministry of Health 2022 Health at least 14 million Ugandans have mental related problems in one way or the other.
Vincent Mujune the Country director Strong Minds notes that unfortunately a lot of things that make mental health thrive are not necessarily in the health sector as majority think calling for a multi sectoral approach of supporting the mental health wellbeing.
