Sapien Labs founder and chief scientist Dr Tara Thiagarajan says the issue is bigger than depression and anxiety. “The mind health crisis appears to be a progressive slide from generation to generation,” she said, with many young adults struggling with emotional control, focus and relationship management.

The report points to early-life smartphone use, diet changes, weaker family bonds and declining spirituality as key drivers, and argues the gap widened sharply around the Covid-19 period and has persisted since.

Further, the report calls for policy responses including tighter rules on phone use in schools, minimum ages for social media access and closer scrutiny of additives in ultra-processed foods.

Ghana tops the list for youth mind health, followed by Nigeria, Kenya , Zimbabwe and Tanzania, while several high-income countries rank near the bottom.

Sapien Labs measures mind health using the Mind Health Quotient (MHQ), a composite score that reflects emotional, cognitive, social and physical functioning, the capacities people rely on to manage life, work and relationships.

Researchers link the global decline to factors including early smartphone exposure, ultra-processed food consumption, weakening family bonds and reduced spirituality. They say parts of sub-Saharan Africa score better on some of these indicators, including later smartphone adoption and stronger spiritual and family connections.

Tanzania , for example, ranks highly on spirituality measures and reports a later average age of first smartphone use.

Despite the scale of this challenge, mental health services remain severely under-resourced, fragmented, and inaccessible, particularly for those in rural or underserved communities.

The statistics paint a sobering picture: the regional suicide rate stands at 11.5 per 100,000 people, and in some nations, alcohol consumption rates exceed 10 litres per capita, further straining the region's fragile psychosocial landscape. 

For young Africans, the burden is doubled by pervasive stigma and a lack of culturally relevant information, which often forces emotional struggles into the shadows until they reach a breaking point.

A digital revolution in wellness

In response to this gap, a new wave of youth-led advocacy is leveraging technology to dismantle old taboos. SereniMind, a Nigerian mental health tech startup, is spearheading the Africa Wellness Voices Initiative (AWVI). Throughout February, this pan-African digital campaign has been spotlighting voices from up to 25 African countries, using AI-supported content coordination to amplify a singular message: mental health is a shared human experience.

Rather than relying on traditional, institutional messaging, AWVI centres its movement on authentic storytelling. By connecting young Africans across borders via digital platforms, the initiative has already reached over 300,000 people, fostering a space where it is finally deemed "okay to talk about how we feel".

“We are seeing a generation of young Africans ready to speak openly about mental wellness, but many still lack safe spaces and relatable platforms,” says Ridwan Oyenuga SereniMind founder and Coordinator of AWVI.

“Through technology and AI- supported coordination, we are connecting voices across countries to show that mental health is a shared human experience, not a private burden. AWVI is about making mental wellness visible, culturally relevant, and youth-led across Africa,” he adds.

Voices from the frontlines

The movement is powered by the insights of grassroots leaders and professionals who see mental wellness as the foundation of the continent's future. 

Elizabeth Naomi Adhiambo, a counselling psychologist from Kenya, emphasises that prioritising mental health is what allows young people to build resilience and pursue their dreams. “It influences how young people think and cope with challenges.”

“By prioritising mental wellness, we empower young people to build resilience, self-awareness, confidence, and healthy coping skills,” she said.

In Uganda, Dr Joshua Brian Einstein, a mental health professional, argues that mental wellness is not just an aspiration but a “prophylactic” necessity that  “underpins cognitive function, emotional regulation, and adaptive capacity.” He adds that “When unrecognised, psychosocial stressors may evolve into preventable mental disorders.”

For many, the campaign is about the fundamental right to exist without shame. Kamga Maeva Fombe of Cameroon describes wellness as the "freedom to exist fully" without shrinking oneself to survive, while for Sonia Silva from Guinea-Bissau, mental well-being is a human right, not a privilege. “We must break the silence and dismantle stigma, creating safe, compassionate spaces where women and young people can speak openly without fear or judgment,” she said. 

A vision for 2063

This shift towards tech-driven, people-centred health movements aligns with global and continental goals. The initiative supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals—specifically those focusing on good health and reduced inequalities—and mirrors the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which envisions a continent powered by the potential of healthy, well-nourished citizens.

As Cyrus Malama of Zambia notes, the goal is to replace isolation with community: "Let’s check up on our friends and family and use our platforms to share more on mental health". 

Disclaimer: The image used in this article is AI-generated

Japan’s chef de mission, Hidehito Ito, said a new monitoring system would aim to prevent athletes from being exposed to harmful content by having specialists track abusive posts in real time. They will subsequently ask social media platforms to remove the material.

The task force will consist of 22 staff members, with 16 based in Japan and six in Italy, supported by lawyers in both locations. The split setup is intended to ensure 24-hour coverage across time zones.

Ito said the JOC wants to act quickly before abusive messages spread or reach athletes directly, adding that lessons from Paris underscored the need for stronger, more proactive measures.

Japan’s heightened focus on online abuse reflects broader changes at home. 

Since the 2020 death of wrestler and reality television star Hana Kimura following cyberbullying, authorities have strengthened penalties for online harassment, including prison terms and fines for platform operators that fail to act promptly.

The push mirrors concerns raised by international sports bodies in recent years. 

A study published by World Athletics following the Tokyo 2020 Olympics found widespread abuse directed at athletes on social media, particularly during major competitions.

Conducted with Threat Matrix, the study analysed more than 240,000 tweets linked to 161 Olympic athletes over a four-week period in 2021, using artificial intelligence tools to identify discriminatory language, threats and abusive imagery.

Of the athletes targeted, the vast majority were women, who accounted for 87% of identified abusive posts. Two Black female athletes alone received nearly two-thirds of all detected abuse.

Sexist and racist messages made up more than half of the abuse identified, raising concerns about the psychological toll on athletes and the potential impact on performance during high-pressure events.

World Athletics said the results highlighted gaps in existing safeguards on social media platforms and underscored the need for closer cooperation between sporting bodies and technology companies.

For Japan, those findings reinforce the urgency of intervention. 

Officials say the Milan Cortina approach will be adjusted as the Games progress, with regular communication between the JOC and the IOC to respond to emerging risks.

Dr Liu Jianlin, the study’s lead researcher and a research fellow at IMH, said childhood adversity continues to shape a person’s emotional and social development well into adulthood. “Trauma impacts how we relate to others, the way we trust, the way we see ourselves,” she said. “Experiencing very strong emotions at a young age may also impact how we respond later in life,” Straits Times quotes.

The modified i-STAIR programme focuses on strengthening two key skills often disrupted by early trauma: emotional regulation and interpersonal relationships. Participants will undergo weekly one-hour sessions for eight months, learning techniques to manage overwhelming emotions and build healthier patterns of communication.

Many adults experiencing what clinicians call subsyndromal depression (SSD), a milder form of depression that affects daily life without meeting full diagnostic criteria, never seek treatment. Yet research shows that around 17% of those with SSD progress to major depressive disorder (MDD). Those with adverse childhood experiences are three times more likely to develop mood or anxiety disorders.

Singapore has no official statistics on SSD because it often goes undiagnosed, making prevention efforts difficult.

Disclaimer: The image used in this article is AI-generated

These figures appear to contrast with Jakarta’s placement in a Time Out survey, in which the London-based lifestyle publication interviewed more than 18,000 residents world wide for its report, “The Happiest Cities in the World 2025.” Jakarta ranked 18th globally and was celebrated for its food scene, culture, and social vibrancy.

But Jakarta’s Deputy Governor Rano Karno insists the numbers don’t tell a contradictory story.

“Jakarta is a happy city,” he said at City Hall. “There’s no such thing as a ‘depressed city.’ Depression occurs in certain regions or groups, not the entire population. We have to survey it.”

How can a ‘happy city’ still have rising depression?

The country’s public-health specialists say global “happiness indexes” often measure lifestyle satisfaction, such as access to entertainment, restaurants, culture, community spirit, and public transportation , not mental-health outcomes. Therefore, a city may offer a lively environment that residents enjoy while still grappling with pressures that worsen mental health, such as long working hours, heavy traffic and long commutes, high living costs, limited access to mental-health services and urban isolation.

The Ministry of Health added that urban centres tend to show higher mental-health burdens precisely because of these stress factors. 

The data shows that mental-health challenges vary across Indonesia. West Java recorded the highest rate, with 4.4% of residents experiencing mental-health issues, more than double the national average.