Gov’t to build more mental health facilities in Northern Ghana

The government is taking steps to improve mental health care in the northern parts of Ghana by building new psychiatric hospitals in the region.

This plan was announced by Dr. Josephine Stiles Darko from the Mental Health Authority during the 2025 edition of the Dcoded Show, an event held by the University of Ghana’s Career and Counseling Centre in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. The event focused on raising awareness about schizophrenia under the theme “Fixing the Pieces When the Mind Splits.”

Dr. Darko said the government has begun work on two new psychiatric hospitals to serve people in the north, where mental health services have been harder to access. She added that beyond new hospitals, the Mental Health Authority is also working to improve care across the country by making sure more district hospitals can handle mental health cases.

“There are two more psychiatric hospitals in the pipeline, with a focus on the northern regions. While we work to increase the number of mental health specialists, we are also integrating mental health care into district hospitals, so that all doctors receive some level of psychiatric training,” she said.  

As part of the plan, doctors will be trained in basic mental health care in order to support and deliver to patients with mental health challenges. The Authority is also running community outreach programs and training health workers to help identify and treat mental health conditions earlier and more effectively.

These efforts are meant to make mental health care more available and less stigmatized across Ghana.