Strives to create mental health awareness in full swing in Ethiopia

2026-03-08 - 06:55

Mental illness is one of the most misunderstood diseases worldwide. The situation in Ethiopia is no different. There are harmful reasonings and stereotypes attached to mental health challenges that prevent people from seeking the necessary medical care. Studies show that there has been an increase in mental health challenges in the country in recent years. Common mental disorders (including depression, anxiety, and related conditions) in the general population have been estimated around 21–22% in older meta-analyses (pre-2020), with higher rates (up to 36–40%) in post-COVID reviews or specific subgroups. Depression prevalence has varied widely: from ~9% in analyses drawing on older national health survey data to 30–35% in targeted groups like students, hypertensive patients, or youth. Recent studies (2020–2025) report figures such as 21% in Harari Region adults, 24.7% in Addis Ababa communities, or higher rates (40–60%) among vulnerable groups like prisoners, substance users, or those with chronic illnesses. Anecdotal reports from clinicians, community observations, and findings from these smaller-scale studies consistently suggest a rising trend in mental health problems over recent years. Experts explain that this appears to be driven by multiple overlapping adverse psychosocial factors, including ongoing and recurrent conflicts and instability in various parts of the country, economic challenges — such as inflation, unemployment, poverty, and cost-of-living pressures and other stressors like displacement, food insecurity, migration, substance use, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing profession of Psychiatry in Ethiopia has tried to address this issue by offering a new book on mental health challenges, its meaning and causes in Amharic. The book was written by the Psychiatry department of Addis Ababa University. “ Professor Samuel Wolde—a clinical psychologist based in the US and one of the book’s editors—discussed the idea of producing a book in Amharic with Professor Atalay Alem, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry at Addis Ababa University (AAU) and also an editor of the book. Professor Atalay then brought the proposal to me and Professor Mesfin Araya. We enthusiastically embraced the idea, and I was tasked with developing author guidelines and identifying suitable contributors for the various chapters. Contributors were carefully selected based on their expertise in relevant areas,” Professor Solomon Teferra, who is the leading editor of the book, told Geeska. Professor Solomon is an Addiction Psychiatry subspecialist. He explained that before this initiative, Ethiopian mental health professionals had made various efforts over the years to address this gap through mainstream media, social media, and other platforms. However, no comprehensive book in Amharic was readily available to the public, compiling reliable information on the topic. This unmet need motivated the project, which ultimately took nearly three years to complete. There were more than 20 mental health professionals who were involved in preparation of the book which makes it unique. All the authors voluntarily contributed to the book and there were experts from junior to senior positions. “For me, it was both an honor and a privilege to serve as one of the four editors and to contribute several chapters. My contributions focused on areas such as addiction, psychosis, and the history and development of mental health research in Ethiopia, among others,” Professor Solomon said. Another participant in the book is Dr Azeb Asaminew who is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Addis Ababa University. She stated that her reason to be involved in the project is because academics have a responsibility to share the knowledge they have learned. “I believe that knowledge should not be hoarded. And in sharing it, the knowledge will need to be transformed based on our local experiences and realities. The way we speak about mental health issues needs to be interwoven with our social contextual fabrics. “ She further explained that the book, written in a widely spoken Ethiopian language (Amharic), makes the knowledge accessible to the wider public. “It contextualizes and gives the vocabulary to help us have deeper conversations about the topic. In addition to the accessibility of knowledge, it is my hope that it will help people ask more transformative questions about mental disorders, and the mental healthcare system,” she told Geeska. “ I am extremely proud to be part of this project and I would like to appreciate Prof. Solomon Teferra and all other editors who are giants of the profession that we all look up to. It’s a significant lifetime contribution,” she further added. Professor Solomon explains that convincing more than 20 professionals to contribute to the project without any compensation was a tough task. In addition to that, translating technical Psychiatric terms to Amharic was also challenging. “ In some cases, we retained the original English terms (or their established transliterations)—a prominent example being schizophrenia—to avoid ambiguity or loss of precise meaning,” he said. Securing funding was also another problematic aspect but the Federal Ministry of Health helped by enabling the department to print 10,000 copies which will be distributed to the public. Professor Solomon states that over the past two decades, Ethiopia has made notable progress in raising mental health awareness and increasing service utilization. Mental health services have been increasingly integrated into general and primary health care, guided by the National Mental Health Strategy (initially launched in 2012/13–2015/16, with a subsequent strategy for 2020–2025). This integration emphasizes task-sharing, training of primary care workers, and expansion to health centers and community levels. He states that the key improvements include expansion of the mental health workforce (e.g., more psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, and trained Health Extension Workers) , better availability of essential psychotropic medications and a gradual shift in public attitudes toward mental health issues, with reduced stigma in some communities due to awareness efforts. He also underlies the importance of the establishment of the Ethiopian Mental Health Service Users Association. He states that this has played a vital role in combating stigma, amplifying the voices of people with lived experience, fostering community awareness, and advocating for improved rights and access to care. “I firmly believe this book serves as an excellent foundation for raising public awareness about mental health in our society, where stigma, misinformation, and limited understanding have long been barriers to care,” Professor Solomon said. The book is believed to benefit those in practice to prepare educational and awareness contents, helps people with illnesses learn more about the disease and also will enable those in the media to accurately report on the issue. As Ethiopia strives to create mental health awareness the book will go a long way in achieving that goal. Brook Genene (MD) is an Ethiopian physician and health journalist. He holds a medical degree and a fellowship in health communications, creating mental health content for YouTube and television. DISCLAIMER