The headline, ‘Over 90,000 Kampala students found with mental health cases in one year’, in the Daily Monitor of October 23, is alarming. And because numbers don’t lie, this is clearly a crisis that deserves urgent and adequate attention and action.
According to Kampala Capital City Authority data, 90,530 cases of mental health disorders were registered between July 2024 and June 2025, marking a 12.2 percent increase. Compared to the previous year. Most common mental health conditions reported in Kampala include epilepsy (29 percent), bipolar disorder (19 percent), schizophrenia (14 percent), substance abuse and alcohol disorders (6.3 percent), and depression (5.3 percent).
Dr Bitjuma Luwedde, a national mental health trainer speaking in regard to these statistics, warned of a worrying rise in suicide cases among students in both secondary schools and higher institutions of learning. He pointed out the rise in the number of suicides and suicide attempts caused by academic pressure, post Covid-19 trauma, family conflict, financial hardship, bullying, and unmet emotional needs. He said drug abuse, sports betting, and addiction to online platforms have worsened the crisis.
What Dr Luwedde mentions here is nothing new. The problem is that we haven’t yet been jolted enough by the state of mental affairs, especially of our young people, who make up the majority of our population, to take effective, adequate action. We must start by appreciating the magnitude of the problem and then attempt to solve or counter it with solutions that match its size.
Dr Luwedde mentions key points of weakness, such as the absence of a coordinated national response, weak community support systems, and limited data.
Surely these numbers speak loud enough for all stakeholders to hear. We must improve, fund and generally prioritise mental health care in the country. Schools and all institutions of learning must budget for mental health care of their students not as a minor footnote in the budget but as the critical issue it now is. Schools must employ or partner with professional mental health practitioners.
Allocating a teacher or two to deal with students’ issues and calling them the school counsellor is good, but it is not adequate to deal with the beast that is mental disorders. The teachers, while well-meaning and with basic psychology and counselling training, might not be fully equipped to deal with the mental health needs in these institutions. This is not limited to students alone, of course.
We all need good mental health, but it will not be achieved if there is no proficient plan and adequate facilitation to achieve it. The KCCA numbers should incite us all to be aware of the need for good mental health and get off our collective laurels to do something.