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The Africa Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) and its partners have set up a Catalytic Pooled Fund for Mental Health Investment to mobilise private and institutional financing toward one of Africa’s most underfunded health sectors.
- •Africa carries 25% of the global disease burden but receives less than one percent of global health expenditure, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
- •In several countries, mental health spending is below $1 per person annually, while untreated mental disorders cost African economies an estimated $4 billion a yearin lost productivity.
- •The pooled fund applies blended finance structures, combining grants, concessional loans and guarantees, to de-risk investment and mobilise private capital into high-impact interventions.
“Mental health is not a peripheral issue; it is foundational to economic productivity and social stability,” said Dr Frank Aswani, AVPA Chief Executive Officer. “The fund positions mental health as an investable priority capable of generating measurable social and economic returns.”
Priority areas include digital mental health, youth-focused initiatives, and community-based care models aimed at strengthening Africa’s human capital base.
The fund, developed under the Coalition for Mental Health Investment (CMHI), comprising the Clinton Global Initiative, Wellcome Trust, Kokoro, and the McKinsey Health Institute, pools catalytic capital from philanthropies, governments, private investors, and family offices to scale evidence-based mental health programmes across Africa.
“Africa’s development narrative has shifted from aid to ownership,” said Joseph Ogutu, AVPA East Africa Board Chair. “African capital, financial, human, and intellectual, must drive the next phase of transformation.”
AVPA has also formalised a partnership with the International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA) to expand capital mobilisation for innovation across Africa. The agreement connects AVPA’s network with IDIA’s 400-member global community of innovation funders to support co-investment frameworks and scalable development models.