Wednesday 19th November - The Science For Africa Foundation (SFA) has announced a major commitment of USD 10.4 million towards the BEING Initiative, a groundbreaking international effort dedicated to improving youth mental health across Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Led by Grand Challenges Canada and delivered in partnership with Fondation Botnar, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), United for Global Mental Health, and Orygen, the Initiative seeks to build the largest cross-national research infrastructure on emerging stressors affecting the mental health and well-being of young people.

The announcement follows an inception meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 28 to 30 April 2025, which convened leading researchers, funders, and youth representatives from across the participating regions. The Initiative, which spans countries including Senegal, Morocco, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Romania, aims to generate long-term, contextually grounded evidence on the determinants of youth mental wellbeing and translate that knowledge into sustainable interventions and policy influence.

“At SFA Foundation, we believe that Africa must lead in the science of its own future. By backing the BEING Initiative, we are not merely funding studies; we are investing in the mental resilience of a generation. These grants will catalyse world-class research capacity across the global south and generate actionable insights into the stressors that shape youth wellbeing,” said Dr Evelyn Gitau, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), SFA Foundation.

Globally, approximately one in seven adolescents (10–19-year-olds) lives with a mental disorder, accounting for 15% of the global burden of disease in that age group, according to the World Health Organization. Yet, in sub-Saharan Africa, the treatment gap for mental health conditions among young people remains as high as 80 to 90%, with some nations registering rates close to 99%.

“Partnerships like those with the SFA Foundation are vital to turning research into real-world impact. Through the Being Initiative, we’re advancing evidence and action to improve young people’s mental health globally,” said Dr. Nicole Bardikoff, Mental Health Lead, Grand Challenges Canada.

Recent data indicate that depression affects about 15% of adolescents in the region, anxiety disorders 12%, and post-traumatic stress disorder nearly 13%. Alarmingly, more than one in ten young people report suicidal thoughts. Despite these realities, most African countries have fewer than one child psychiatrist per four million people. Globally, the incidence of anxiety among individuals aged between ten and twenty-four years has increased by more than 50% since 1990.

“Young people’s mental health is shaped by many interconnected factors, from their social environments to digital pressures and access to support. Until now, we’ve lacked research that truly examines how these drivers work together in different contexts. This new research will contribute to filling that gap and to developing more effective, preventive approaches to strengthen youth wellbeing worldwide,” said Dr Aline Cossy-Gantner, Portfolio Manager for Mental Health. Fondation Botnar.

It is against this background that the SFA Foundation, through the BEING Initiative, has taken a decisive step to help close the gap between research, evidence, and policy in mental health. The Initiative’s latest funding round supports three pioneering, multi-country research projects designed to investigate the drivers of mental distress among youth and to design innovative, evidence-based interventions. These include:

1. BEING Asia and Africa Research Excellence Hub on Emerging Stressors for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing, led by Professor Usman Syed Hamdani of Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University in Pakistan, with collaborating teams in Colombia and Indonesia. The project will examine how poverty, educational expectations, and childhood trauma interact to influence depression among young people. Using the Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence Risk Score, the team will assess biological and psychosocial markers of vulnerability and test preventive interventions in Pakistan.
2. Navigating Educational Pressures and Stressors (NEPS), led by Professor Obed Brew from Akenten Appiah-Menka University in Ghana, focuses on the intersection of educational pressures, poverty, and stigma in shaping youth mental health in sub-Saharan Africa. Working across Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, the research will combine community engagement and advanced epigenetic analysis to identify pathways linking social stressors and mental health outcomes in adolescents.
3. STrEssors of AnxiEty and depRession in young people (STEER) is spearheaded by Dr. Supriya Bhavnani of Sangath, India, in collaboration with partners in Vietnam, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Sapien Labs, and Keele University in the United Kingdom. The study will explore how childhood trauma, exposure to violence, and the pervasive influence of digital and media environments shape the onset of anxiety and depression among adolescents, with the ultimate goal of informing culturally relevant prevention and early-intervention strategies.

In total, the SFA Foundation’s investment will fund these three flagship projects at USD 2.4 million each, while a further USD 3.2 million will be dedicated to coordination, capacity building, data harmonisation, and infrastructure to ensure coherence across the network. Awardees were selected through a rigorous two-stage process involving independent review by eminent scientists and a final interview round that evaluated scientific merit, innovation, cost -cost-effectiveness, sustainability, and potential impact.

Over the coming months, each research hub will begin recruiting study cohorts, collecting longitudinal data, and building harmonised digital and biospecimen platforms. The projects will also embed participatory engagement with youth and communities from the outset, ensuring that their perspectives guide both research and implementation.

The BEING Initiative represents a landmark in global collaboration for mental health science, uniting funders, researchers, and youth advocates across continents to address one of the most urgent health challenges of our time. By investing in cross-regional research and capacity, the SFA Foundation and its partners are not only expanding the frontiers of scientific understanding but also charting a more equitable path towards mental well-being for young people everywhere.

//END//

Media Enquiries

Science for Africa Foundation: Davies Mbela

About the Science for Africa Foundation

The Science for Africa Foundation (SFA) is a pan-African, non-profit and public charity organisation that supports, strengthens and promotes science and innovation in Africa. The SFA Foundation serves the African research ecosystem by funding excellent ideas in research and innovation, enabling interdisciplinary collaborations, and building and reinforcing environments that are conducive for scientists to thrive and produce quality research that generates new, locally relevant knowledge.

About Being

Innovating for Young People’s Wellbeing

BEING is an international mental health initiative working toward a world where young people feel well and thrive. We’re working together with young people to improve their mental well-being through research and innovation. By focusing on mental health prevention and promotion, BEING aims to create positive, lasting change in local communities and beyond. We’re hosted by Grand Challenges Canada (funded in part by the Government of Canada) in partnership with Fondation Botnar, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, using UK aid through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Science for Africa Foundation, and United for Global Mental Health.