By: Sarah Achen

The Vice Chairperson of the Parliamentary Forum on Mental Health, Christopher Komakech, has called on the government to increase funding for mental health services to address the growing number of people affected by mental health conditions across the country.

Speaking during the two-day Parliamentary Mental Health Week Camp at Parliament, Komakech said Uganda has developed several policies on mental health, but many have remained unimplemented.”We want to turn these policies into action because we have been talking and talking while mental health cases continue to increase,” Komakech said.

Komakech, who also represents Aruu County in Parliament, expressed concern over the limited budget allocated to mental health. He noted that despite millions of Ugandans living with mental health conditions, the sector receives only a small fraction of the national health budget.

He said the inadequate funding has made it difficult to recruit and deploy sufficient mental health professionals, including psychiatrists and psychiatric clinical officers, to regional referral hospitals and lower health facilities.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hairat Kiiza Hussein, a psychiatrist at Reclaim Rehabilitation Centre and Central Coordinator on the Executive Board of the Uganda National Association of Psychiatric Clinical Officers (UNAPCO), said the Mental Health Week Camp was organized to create a platform for dialogue on strengthening mental health care in Uganda.

Dr. Kiiza revealed that an estimated one in every four Ugandans experiences symptoms of a mental health condition, yet the country continues to face a critical shortage of trained mental health professionals.

She noted that Uganda has only about 45 psychiatrists serving a population of approximately 45 million people, supported by fewer than 600 Psychiatric Clinical Officers (PCOs), leaving a significant treatment gap.

“We call upon the government and all stakeholders to recruit more mental health specialists, including psychiatric clinical officers, to bridge the treatment gap,” Dr. Kiiza said.

She emphasized that greater investment should be directed toward prevention, noting that mental illness affects not only the individual but also families and communities.

“Prevention is critical because treatment comes with enormous financial, social and psychological costs. When a parent develops a mental illness, the entire family is affected in one way or another,” she added.

Dr. Kiiza also urged schools to employ qualified professional counselors to provide mental health support for learners, saying early intervention is key to raising emotionally healthy and resilient children.

The two-day Mental Health Week Camp was organized by the Parliamentary Forum on Mental Health in partnership with organizations working to promote mental health awareness, advocacy and access to mental health services in Uganda.