While the Ministry of Health is promising to transform mental healthcare, millions of Kenyans are still caught between a government making commitments and a system that has yet to deliver on them.
Last year, at the second National Mental Health Conference, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale announced that mental health services had been formally integrated into Kenya's national insurance benefits package under the Taifa Care Model and the Social Health Authority (SHA).
“For the first time, mental health services are now part of the national insurance benefits package, ensuring that no Kenyan has to choose between caring for their mental health and providing for their family,” he announced.
This was an important development, particularly for those familiar with Kenya's mental health history. It is estimated that 25 percent of outpatients and 40 percent of inpatients at Kenyan hospitals have a mental health disorder, and that about 10 million people in Kenya are living with a diagnosable mental health condition.
Demand surge
In the first month of the SHA's operation, mental wellness services accounted for Sh102.8 million in processed claims. While the government cited this as a sign of progress, it also revealed the scale of unmet demand.
Despite this, the country has only around 100 psychiatrists to serve a population of over 50 million. Outside Nairobi, this ratio is closer to one specialist for every three to five million people.
Psychiatric units exist in about 25 of Kenya's 47 counties. Founded over a century ago under colonial rule, Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital remains the country's sole public psychiatric referral facility, carrying a crushing national burden.
Meanwhile, for years, the law actively deterred people from seeking help and suppressed accurate data on the scale of the crisis. Between 2017 and 2024, Kenya recorded a 52 percent rise in suicides. It was only in January 2025 that the High Court declared Section 226 of the Penal Code, which criminalised attempted suicide, to be unconstitutional.
The financing situation is even more alarming. According to Kenya's Mental Health Action Plan for 2021–2025, only 0.01 percent of the national health budget is allocated to mental health, equating to just $0.0012 per capita, which is below the World Health Organisation's (WHO) recommendation of at least $1.16 per capita per year.
Nevertheless, Kenya has established policy frameworks to address mental health, including the Kenya Mental Health Policy 2015–2030 and the Mental Health (Amendment) Act of 2022, which aim to secure mental health system reforms, align services with the 2010 Constitution of Kenya, which, under Article 43(1)(a), guarantees every person the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and integrate mental health into the Kenya Essential Package for Health.
The Mental Health (Amendment) Act of 2022, marked a historic milestone in that it was the first Kenyan legislation governing mental healthcare to include the words 'human rights'. The Act established county mental health councils in all 47 counties, mandated written consent before treatment, and prioritised community-based care.
The integration of the SHA in 2025 built on this progress, with 107,000 community health promoters now equipped with the necessary technology to provide basic mental health screening and early intervention at a local level.
However, implementation has been slow, with policy gaps and inconsistencies leaving counselling services poorly resourced.
Tech solutions
Where government infrastructure has stalled, a new wave of Kenyan founders, researchers and social entrepreneurs is stepping in, using technology, community-based delivery, and hybrid funding models to reach populations.
Wazi, an online mental health start-up founded in 2018 by Alex Royea and David Henia, connects users anonymously to licensed Kenyan therapists via a chatbot and web application. It also offers an employee wellness marketplace and licenses its technology to NGOs and government agencies, including organisations working with survivors of gender-based violence.
Wazi is backed by Kepple Africa Ventures, the Skoll Foundation, and the Segal Family Foundation. Through NGO and government partnerships, Wazi has served over 10,000 people.
“As part of our commitment to confidentiality and privacy, people join Wazi anonymously. We then collect only the information that is crucial for using the service, and only authorised individuals can interact with the data through secure, encrypted channels. One-on-one conversations on Wazi via video and audio calls are end-to-end encrypted,” said Mr Royea.
MENTOCARE, another mental health start-up, deploys a 24/7 AI-powered chatbot for mental and maternal health support, providing access to certified professionals and community peer support features.
Designed explicitly for affordability and anytime access, it reflects the growing recognition that, in a country with high mobile penetration rates and a chronic shortage of professionals, technology is the only sustainable delivery mechanism available.
“We identified the need for reliable, round-the-clock support for individuals and families, particularly in underserved areas. Our goal is to make trusted health information and professional guidance available to everyone, regardless of their location or circumstances,” said Peter Omondi, the company's founder and CEO.
Another significant player in this landscape is the Shamiri Institute, whose story redefines what impact in this sector can look like.
Founded in 2018 by Tom Osborn, Katherine Venturo-Conerly and John R. Weisz, the institute trains young adults aged 18 to 22 to lead four-week group sessions in schools focused on gratitude, growth mindset and value affirmation, with just 10 hours of instruction.
There is no diagnosis, no waiting list and no clinical label. In 2021, Shamiri received a $1 million (Sh129.5 million in current exchange rate) grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, earmarked for dissemination research and long-term outcome studies.
Additional support has come from the Mulago Foundation, Harvard and Duke Universities and the Fund for Innovation in Development. Shamiri now serves over 200,000 young people each year.
As co-founder Katherine Venturo-Conerly puts it: “Approximately one in two young people experience elevated levels of depression and anxiety. Yet these young people remain untreated due to a lack of caregivers."
Stress levels
According to the Cigna International Health Study, 87 percent of Kenyans reported experiencing stress, driven largely by financial pressure and the rising cost of living, while 38 percent identified mental health as their top priority, well above the global average of 25 percent.
Financial well-being scored just 15 percent in the survey, the weakest area recorded, with younger adults aged 18 to 24 bearing the heaviest burden.
Nearly four in 10 Kenyans said they needed medical care in the past year but did not receive it.
The 2021 Kenya Mental Health Investment Case, produced by the Ministry of Health alongside WHO and the United Nations Development Programme, revealed that Kenya loses an estimated Sh62.2 billion annually to mental health conditions, with Sh56.6 billion attributed to lost productivity through absenteeism, presenteeism and premature mortality.
