Kenya Expands Mental Health Services to Rural Clinics

As part of a bold new push to close the mental healthcare gap, the Kenyan government has announced an initiative to extend mental health services into rural primary care facilities. The Ministry of Health, in partnership with Johnson & Johnson, unveiled a national drive during the 2nd National Mental Health Conference to train more than 5,000 Community Health Assistants and 100,000 Community Health Promoters by 2026, equipping them with mental health screening and counselling skills. In a landmark move, mental health care has also been integrated into the country’s national insurance benefits package under the Taifa Care Model, meaning rural residents enrolled in Social Health Authority (SHA) schemes can now access mental health services more affordably.
The expansion builds on a broader strategic effort under Kenya’s Mental Health Action Plan (2021–2025) to embed psychosocial care into community-based services.The Ministry has launched the country’s first clinical guidelines for common mental disorders, tailored to support primary care workers at county clinics. In Kilifi County specifically, rural mental health clinics have already started seeing weekly foot traffic, with community health promoters identifying and referring up to 50 people per session.
Reactions from communities and health experts have been overwhelmingly positive. In Nakuru County, officials laud the programme’s emphasis on early identification and community-level support to break the stigma around mental illness. Meanwhile, the Johnson & Johnson–Ministry of Health partnership is being hailed as a game changer—combining professional training, community outreach, and referral systems to bring mental care closer to where people live. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale says the move reflects a shift in how mental illness is treated in Kenya, not just as a privilege, but a basic right.
Looking forward, policymakers expect the decentralised model to significantly reduce the treatment gap for mental disorders. As more community health workers become trained and clinics get integrated under the SHA scheme, early detection and care should improve, even in Kenya’s most underserved regions. The government also plans to build six new mental health facilities across the country. If successfully scaled, the reforms could mark a turning point—where mental health care is no longer centralized in urban referral hospitals but is truly accessible to rural communities.